Brown Brothers Harriman’s (BBH) Elias Haddad highlights a busy US knowledge calendar for the Greenback, with February PCE, March CPI and the College of Michigan survey guiding inflation expectations. The financial institution argues that if energy-driven value beneficial properties don’t spill over, the Fed can look via the Oil shock, whereas FOMC minutes will make clear how excessive the bar is for a price hike.
Inflation prints and FOMC minutes in focus
“The minutes of the FOMC March 17-18 assembly will probably be price monitoring for indicators on how excessive the hurdle is for a price hike (Wednesday). Recall, at that assembly the FOMC delivered a hawkish maintain and Fed Chair Jay Powell flagged that the “risk that subsequent transfer is perhaps hike did come up” through the coverage dialogue. Price noting that the swaps curve has just about absolutely priced-out Fed price hike bets since March 26, when near 25bps of tightening was implied.”
“February PCE will seize the pre-shock inflation and client spending backdrop (Thursday). Headline PCE is seen at 2.8% y/y for a second straight month, core PCE is predicted to dip 0.1pts to three.0% y/y, and actual private spending is forecast to rise by 0.2% m/m vs. 0.1% in January. For reference, at its March 17-18 assembly, the FOMC’s median 2026 projection for each headline and core PCE stood at 2.7%.”
“March CPI would be the first inflation print because the battle started (Friday). Headline inflation is poised to quicken sharply because of the surge in gasoline costs. Headline CPI is seen rising to a one-year excessive at 3.4% y/y vs. 2.4% in February and core CPI is predicted to extend to a five-month excessive at 2.7% y/y vs. 2.5% in February.”
“Supplied that underlying inflation excluding power stays contained, the Fed can afford to look via the oil-price shock and chorus from elevating charges amid a blended US labor market backdrop.”
“April College of Michigan client sentiment survey will provide a learn on how nicely long-term inflation expectations are anchored. Consensus sees 5 to 10-year inflation expectations rise by 0.3pts to a six-month excessive at 3.5%, complicating the Fed’s effort to rein-in inflation again to its 2% objective. Right now, the March New York Fed survey of client expectations takes the information highlight (4:00pm London, 11:00am New York).”
(This text was created with the assistance of an Synthetic Intelligence software and reviewed by an editor.)

