Although this year's backup in energy prices has boosted headline consumer price inflation, the levels of broad measures of consumer prices are still below where they were a year ago. Core PCE prices are estimated to have risen 1.3 percent during the 12 months ending in August, compared with an increase of 2.7 percent over the preceding 12 months.
To be sure, this deceleration has probably been exaggerated by a sharp decline in the so-called nonmarket component of PCE prices, which tends not to be a reliable indicator of inflation trends. But market-based price increases have also moved lower in an environment of weak demand.