Prices in the country stabilize near Fed target before its meeting

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1% in the country in August, while year-on-year inflation fell from 1.8% to 1.7%, still close to the Federal Reserve (Fed) target, less than a week from the next meeting of the US central bank.

Core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices due to its volatility, rose 0.3% last month, while compared to August last year it grew from 2.2% to 2.4%, the highest level in 13 months.

The price of gasoline fell last month, while those of rents and healthcare rose.

This stability should help reassure the Fed leaders, who have frequently expressed their concern this year for weak inflation, ahead of the central bank meeting on September 17 and 18.

The data, in fact, could motivate interest rates to remain in the current range, between 2% and 2.25%.

The central bank lowered interest rates a quarter point at its last meeting in July, and some experts, however, have anticipated in recent weeks that the Fed will do so again soon.

The institution led by Jerome Powell confirmed the change of course in monetary policy by announcing a reduction in interest rates, given the global economic weakness and inflation "off" in the country.

That was the first cut in the price of money in the country in more than a decade, since the previous one occurred just after the acute financial crisis of the end of 2008.

Until now, the Fed has defined the rebate as a “mid-cycle adjustment,” thus avoiding confirming whether it was the beginning of a prolonged cycle of rate reduction that the central bank usually adopts in times of recession or during the recession. A continuous slowdown is expected.

The reduction in interest rates in July, however, was not enough for President Donald Trump, who later assured that Powell "disappointed" him by not betting on a prolonged cycle of lower credit.

"As usual, Powell disappointed us," Trump said after hearing the Fed cut in July and reiterated that he is not "getting much help from the Federal Reserve" to boost the US economy.

In fact, the president has not stopped his attacks on the US central bank since his arrival at the White House and has demanded that he continue with the descent.

This same Wednesday, Trump urged to reduce the price of money "to zero or less" to contribute to economic expansion.

Traditionally, presidents did not comment on the direction of the country's monetary policy to try not to influence their decisions, something that Trump has disregarded.

Given the constant comments of the president, Powell has insisted on the independence of the institution and has argued that its decisions are based "exclusively" on economic data, without taking into account "political considerations."

In the first half of the year, the Fed decided to press the pause button in its progressive monetary adjustment plan for 2019 given the global economic slowdown, trade tensions and weak prices in the US, which are below of the annual Fed target of 2% per year.

For its part, the US economy advanced at an annual rate of 2% in the second quarter, one tenth below the official preliminary calculation for that period, while in the first quarter of the year, it had registered a growth rate of 3.1%