Inflation pressures remain persistent as consumers pull back

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key measures of prices and wages remained high in March, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates next week for the 10th time since March of last year in its drive to defeat high inflation. An index that is closely followed by the Fed, which excludes volatile food and energy costs to capture “core” inflation, rose 0.3% from February to March and 4.6% from a year earlier. That is still far above the Fed’s 2% target rate. Some Fed officials are concerned that core inflation hasn’t declined much since reaching 4.7% in July.