Key Takeaways Inflation cooled in January, according to Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation.Inflation rose 2.5% over the year in January compared to 2.

The decline in the personal consumption expenditures index from 2.6% the month before was in line with expectations.

Thomas Ryan, an economist at Capital Economics, attributed the decline in part to “unseasonably severe winter weather,” but warned that the Fed’s job will become “trickier if January’s sharp decline in consumption was a sign of consumer strength buckling.”