Excluding food and energy, the core PCE also rose 0.3% for the month and was at 2.6% annually. Fed officials more closely follow the core measure as a better indicator of longer-term trends. The 12-month core measure showed a step down from the upwardly revised 2.9% level in December. Headline inflation eased by 0.1 percentage point.

Inflation came in as expected in January, according to a metric closely followed by the Federal Reserve released on Friday. That could be welcome news as the personal consumption price expenditures index rose at a 0.