PCE Release Schedule 2026
When is the Next PCE Data Release?
The next PCE price index release is Sep 30, 2026 at 8:30am ET (13:30 UK), covering price data for August 2026. PCE comes out in the Personal Income and Outlays report, with headline and core (ex-food and energy) readings together.
- Release date
- Sep 30, 2026
- Release time
- 8:30am ET · 13:30 UK
- Reference month
- August 2026
- Coverage
- Headline + core PCE (ex-food and energy)
- What's at stake
- The last core PCE read the Fed sees in full before its late-October decision.
See the consensus and the actual print the moment it lands on the economic calendar, compare it with the CPI calendar on the CPI release schedule, or check how it feeds the next decision on the Fed meeting schedule.
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes the Personal Income and Outlays report — which carries the PCE price index — roughly four weeks after each month ends, normally at 8:30am ET. Each release covers price changes for the prior month, with headline and core (ex-food and energy) readings released together. Core PCE is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge: it is the number the FOMC cites when it talks about returning inflation to its 2% target, and it drives Fed rate expectations, front-end Treasury yields and the dollar on release.
2026 PCE release dates
| Release date | Time (ET) | Data for | What's at stake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 22, 2026 | 10:00am | October & November 2025 | Combined catch-up release covering both shutdown-delayed months, released at 10am rather than the usual 8:30am slot. |
| Feb 20, 2026 | 8:30am | December 2025 | Completes the delayed 2025 inflation picture and anchors the annual revisions cycle. |
| Mar 13, 2026 | 8:30am | January 2026 | First regular-cycle PCE print of the year — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge ahead of the March FOMC. |
| Apr 9, 2026 | 8:30am | February 2026 | Rescheduled from late March — tests whether the January pickup in price pressure was noise or trend. |
| Apr 30, 2026 | 8:30am | March 2026 | Q1 closes out — the last full-quarter inflation read before the spring FOMC meetings. |
| May 28, 2026 | 8:30am | April 2026 | Back on the normal four-week cadence — tariff pass-through into consumer prices in focus. |
| Jun 25, 2026 | 8:30am | May 2026 | Final PCE print before the June SEP — core services momentum can move the dots. |
| Jul 30, 2026 | 8:30am | June 2026 | Mid-year checkpoint for the Fed's 2% trajectory, released alongside Q2 GDP revisions context. |
| Aug 26, 2026 | 8:30am | July 2026 | Thin summer liquidity tends to amplify the market reaction to a core PCE surprise. |
| Sep 30, 2026 | 8:30am | August 2026 | The last core PCE read the Fed sees in full before its late-October decision. |
| Oct 29, 2026 | 8:30am | September 2026 | Released the day after the October FOMC — immediate test of whether the decision matched the data. |
| Nov 25, 2026 | 8:30am | October 2026 | Shapes expectations for the December decision and year-end positioning. |
| Dec 23, 2026 | 8:30am | November 2026 | The last inflation read of the year, two weeks after the December FOMC. |
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis release schedule. Early-2026 dates reflect catch-up rescheduling after the October–November 2025 government shutdown.
Why PCE matters more to the Fed than CPI
CPI, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, gets the headlines — but core PCE is what the FOMC's 2% target is formally defined against. The two indexes measure the same underlying prices differently: PCE uses a broader basket that adapts as consumers substitute between goods, includes prices paid on consumers' behalf (such as Medicare), and is revised with the full national accounts. As a rule of thumb, core PCE runs two to four tenths of a percentage point below core CPI. Markets therefore trade CPI days harder for the immediate reaction, but read the PCE print for where policy is actually headed — a core PCE month-over-month at or below 0.2% is consistent with disinflation, while a run of 0.3%+ prints keeps rate-hike expectations alive.
How to trade PCE days
The reaction is sharpest in the first seconds after 8:30am ET: a core PCE surprise of a tenth against consensus routinely reprices Fed funds futures for the next one to two meetings and moves two-year Treasury yields by five to ten basis points. Watch the core month-over-month print first, then the three- and six-month annualised rates the Fed highlights in its communications. Remember the timing wrinkle: because PCE lands late in the month, it is often partly anticipated by CPI and PPI released a week or two earlier — the surprise lives in the services components CPI cannot fully reveal.
Track it live on the desk
- Economic calendar — consensus, previous and actual for every PCE print as it lands.
- CPI release schedule — the higher-volatility inflation print that front-runs PCE each month.
- Fed meeting schedule — how each inflation read feeds the next FOMC decision.
- GDP release schedule — quarterly PCE-by-component detail sits inside each GDP release.
- Live news feed — headlines and market reaction as the number crosses the wire.