core inflation

noun

economics

: a measure of inflation that excludes items having volatile prices (such as fuel and food) from the price index being used

The Federal Reserve's past emphasis on core inflation, which strips food and energy from the price indexes in order to gauge the underlying trend of prices, has always confused both Wall Street and Main Street.

—James C. Cooper

compare headline inflation

Examples of core inflation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the first two months of the year, core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, is estimated to have risen by just 0.3%, Macquarie’s Hu said, predicting that this would mark the longest deflationary streak since 1993. —Anniek Bao, CNBC, 21 Mar. 2025

Expectations for 2025 core inflation, without the volatile food and energy components, is now 2.8% rather than 2.5%. —Erik Sherman, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025

The core inflation measure, excluding food and energy, was up 2.6% over the last 12 months, down from 2.8%. —Axios, 28 Feb. 2025

Energy prices do not necessarily lead to large increases in core inflation; when energy prices surged in 2005, core inflation stayed below two percent. —Jason Furman, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for core inflation

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration