February 2026 CPI printed 2.4% — every forecaster graded

The February 2026 Consumer Price Index printed 2.4% year over year on March 11, 2026 (prior 2.4%, Street consensus 2.4%, surprise 0.00pp). Closest on the headline: Street consensus. Nowflation’s sealed forecast was not on the record for this print. Core CPI 2.5% (consensus 2.5%, prior 2.5%; closest Street consensus). Headline MoM 0.3% vs 0.3% expected.

Headline CPI YoY: printed 2.4%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed2.41%2.4%+0.006pp
Street consensus (closest)2.4%2.4%0.000pp

Core CPI YoY: printed 2.5%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed2.46%2.5%−0.043pp
Street consensus (closest)2.5%2.5%0.000pp

Headline CPI MoM: printed 0.3%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed0.25%0.3%−0.051pp
Street consensus (closest)0.3%0.3%0.000pp

Core CPI MoM: printed 0.2%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed0.21%0.2%+0.007pp
Street consensus (closest)0.2%0.2%0.000pp

no pre-registration receipt for this print (receipts began June 2026) — values are the scoreboard rows frozen at grading time. Receipts on the record.

The Gauge stepping

The Gauge read 2.69% on the eve of the print and 3.23% the day after (+0.540pp), its gap to the printed number moving from +0.29pp to +0.83pp; the CPI Tracker 2.71% → 3.20%. The Gauge is a measurement of today, not a call on the print: on release day the components that hold an official subindex step to the new print while the live components keep moving.

Method

Before the print: every call as it stands on the tape, sealed into the receipt the evening before release (SHA-256 of the receipt JSON with its sha256 field removed). After the print: the scoreboard rows frozen at grading time — later revisions by any source never touch them. Graded against the BLS first release (YoY on the NSA index, MoM seasonally adjusted, one decimal). Signed error = forecast − actual.

Scoreboard · February 2026 preview · compare the forecasters · print day, live · dashboard.