A reading on the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge released Friday for January, before the Iran war, showed inflation remained sticky, reinforcing the case for the central bank to hold interest rates steady for now. The Personal Consumption Expenditures index for January rose to a two-year high of 3.1% on a "core" basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices. That's up a tenth of a percentage point from December's core print of 3% and holding at a full percentage point above the Fed's 2% inflation goal. January inflation data was delayed by more than two weeks due to the government shutdown ... (full story)