The Fed has begun its meeting and will announce its decision tomorrow. They get one last important data point - not one that will sway the decision one way or the other - but one that does add to a case that the FOMC doves have been making, mainly that inflation is too low for the Fed to begin to "taper". The core and headline rates rose by 0.1% on the month, but what the Fed looks at is the trend, and therefore focuses on the annual rate which dipped from 2.0% to 1.5%. If we exclude food and energy prices then the rate was a bit higher at 1.8%. Whether they look at one or the other, its hard to make the case that the US is seeing a strong bout of inflation which should cause the FOMC to act, so the hawks on the committee will have to rely on other arguments to make their case. - Nick