Ask and you shall receive.

America’s fiercely independent, proudly apolitical central bank was blessed Friday with the benign core PCE print they needed to justify a second straight 50bps rate cut. That half-point move is “scheduled” for delivery less than 48 hours after Americans choose a president at the ballot box in November, and around 60 days before Americans decide on a president at Gettysburg in January. (I’m just kidding. Hopefully.)

The unrounded, MoM core PCE print for August came in at 0.1304%. That’s the second-best (i.e., second-coolest) reading in a year. Friday’s update found the BEA revising five years worth of data. That’s an annual exercise, and while it’s carried out in the interest of veracity, it invariably elicits sarcastic sighs from the peanut gallery.

On a YoY basis, core price growth on the Fed’s preferred measure ran 2.7%, in line with consensus (and the fastest since April, but who’s counting). August’s 0.13% MoM pace on the core measure matched — exactly, out to three decimals — the average monthly core PCE pace from the decade leading up to the pandemic.

You know the story from doves: “On an [XYZ] rolling window, inflation’s running near, at or even below target!” You know the story from Wall Street: “More cuts now!” And you know the story from Main Street: “Why is this bread $12?”

Headline PCE was cool on Friday too at 0.0907% MoM and 2.24% YoY.

Meanwhile, personal incomes rose just 0.2%, half of the expected gain, and personal spending likewise missed, printing 0.2% versus the 0.3% economists saw. Notably, real personal spending rose just 0.1% last month, although unrounded it was a “high” 0.1%.

Obviously, the release was a win for the “50 in November” crowd. On a three- and six-month annualized basis, core PCE’s running 2.1% and 2.4%, respectively.

Oh, and Albert Edwards’s warning about the personal saving rate falling below 3% is dated now. As tipped Thursday, the BEA revised the income series such that the saving rate is markedly higher. Previously, it showed 2.9% for July. As of Friday, that figure was 4.9%. It slipped to 4.8% in August.