the federal reserve’s preferred measure of rising prices is set to show that inflation continues to trend downward supporting the narrative that the central bank could soon ease up in its battle against elevated prices the core personalconsumption expenditures price index is expected to have climbed 44 year over year in december based on consensus estimates of economists surveyed by factset a slight slowdown from november’s 47 growth on a monthovermonth basis the index is projected to have advanced by 03 this index also known as the core pce deflator gauges the prices that us consumers are paying for goods and services excluding food and energy