A cooldown in the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation last month, coupled with a rebound in household spending, failed to shift the Wall Street consensus that has lifted stocks to records in the first quarter. The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index, which strips out the volatile food and energy components, rose 0.3% from the prior month, slowing from January’s surprisingly strong reading. The data, released with markets closed for the Good Friday holiday, are in line with the view that while inflation has cooled, it remains stubbornly higher than the Federal Reserve ... (full story)