CPI for all items rises 0.3% in February; shelter up

US Feb CPI printed a firmer headline but steady underlying trend: CPI-U rose +0.3% m/m (vs +0.2% in Jan) and held at +2.4% y/y. Core CPI (ex food & energy) rose +0.2% m/m with core running +2.5% y/y, unchanged from January. Shelter (+0.2% m/m) remained the largest single contributor to the monthly increase, keeping services inflation sticky even as the year-on-year pace is broadly stable. Energy rebounded +0.6% m/m (but only +0.5% y/y), while food rose +0.4% m/m (+3.1% y/y). Within core details, several services categories were firm (e.g., transportation services +0.2% m/m; medical care services +0.6% m/m), while some disinflationary pockets persisted (communication, used cars & trucks, and motor vehicle insurance among notable decliners per the release). For precious metals, the mix is mildly supportive/neutral: headline firmness (+0.3% m/m) can keep inflation hedging demand alive, but the unchanged core y/y at 2.5% suggests no new upside inflation shock that would force a hawkish repricing. Near-term gold sensitivity should run through rates/FX reaction to the core print and shelter trajectory; any post-CPI move in front-end real yields will be the key transmission channel into XAU. Catalysts: market interpretation of stickier services/shelter vs stable y/y inflation; follow-through in UST curve and real yields over the next 24–48 hours and into the next Fed communication window. Risk to a bullish PM read is a “higher-for-longer” rates repricing if markets focus on services/shelter persistence rather than the steady y/y core.