Inflation declines to 6% in February in sigh of relief for economy

Inflation slowed to a 6% rate in the year ending in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday, a welcome sign as the Federal Reserve prepares to meet for a monetary policy meeting.

The much-anticipated numbers from the consumer price index shows that, while inflation is much too high, it is cooling in response to the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes.

Inflation had been running at 6.4% the month before. Tuesday’s report marks seven straight months of declines in annual inflation after the rate peaked at a whopping 9.1% in June.

Prices overall grew by 0.4 percentage points between January and February (as opposed to an annual basis), according to the index, a deceleration from December to January.

Meanwhile, “core inflation,” which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was at 5.5% in the year ending in February.