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The U.S. Commerce Department will release February personal consumption expenditures price index data on Friday, which the Federal Reserve considers to be its most important inflation indicator.
Special coverage will begin at 8:15 a.m. ET on CNBC, which you can only watch here. PCE data is released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
CNBC will analyze the data and what it means for markets on Monday. U.S. financial markets were closed Friday for Good Friday.
According to the Dow Jones consensus forecast, excluding food and energy, the core index is expected to rise 0.3% in February and 2.8% annually, after rising 0.4% and 2.8% respectively in January. For the headline numbers, they are expected to be 0.4% and 2.5% respectively, compared with 0.3% and 2.4% in the same period last year.
While the Fed focuses on both data, it considers the core number to be a more reliable indicator of long-term inflation trends.
In addition to personal consumption expenditures data, the department will also release data on personal income and consumer spending. They are expected to grow 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.
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