Bank Stress, Softer Inflation Just Made Fed’s Life Easier

There’s no telling how much recent trouble in the banking sector will weigh on the U.S. economy. Inflation data from the Commerce Department on Friday made it a tad easier for the Federal Reserve to wait and see, though, rather than to keep raising rates and finding out later that it had made a mistake.

In its February report on personal income and spending, the Commerce Department reported that its measure of consumer prices—the Fed’s favored inflation gauge—rose 0.3% in February from January, putting it 5% above its year earlier level.