Two Inflation Numbers Come Out Every Month. The Fed Only Cares About One.

The Fed releases two inflation numbers every month — headline CPI and core CPI. They tell very different stories, and the Fed only acts on one of them. Here is what each measure captures, why the Fed leans on core PCE to set interest rates, and why that gap between what you pay and what the Fed watches matters for gold investors.

Gold Slides to $4,130 as Iran War Turns Inflation Against It

War is supposed to lift gold. This war is different. The Iran conflict is driving oil up, stoking inflation, and forcing the Fed toward rate hikes — the one thing gold cannot afford.

May CPI Printed 4.2%. Core Inflation Beat. So Why Did the Gold Price Drop?

May CPI came in at 4.2% — the fastest pace since early 2023 — and the gold price fell nearly $100 to 11-week lows. But the headline is almost entirely an energy story: gasoline is up 40.5% year-over-year while core CPI rose just 0.2% for the month, below forecast and down sharply from April. The market sold gold on a number it was already expecting. The data behind that number tells a different story.