The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, March 30, edition that a measure of inflation that is closely tracked by the U.S. Federal Reserve slipped last month in a sign that price pressures continue to ease. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the government reported Friday that prices rose 0.3 per cent from January to February, decelerating from a 0.4-per-cent increase the previous month in a potentially encouraging trend for U.S. President Joe Biden's re-election bid. Compared with 12 months earlier, though, prices rose 2.5 per cent in February, up slightly from a 2.4-per-cent year-over-year gain in January. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, last month's "core" prices suggested lower inflation pressures. These prices rose 0.3 per cent from January to February, down from 0.5 per cent the previous month. Core prices rose just 2.8 per cent from 12 months earlier -- the lowest such figure in nearly three years -- down from 2.9 per cent in January. Economists consider core prices to be a better gauge of the likely path of future inflation. Annual inflation, as measured by the Fed's preferred gauge, tumbled in 2023 after having peaked at 7.1 per cent in mid-2022.