A Core Inflation Indicator for the Euro Area

This paper proposes a new core inflation indicator for the euro area, obtained by 'cleaning' monthly price changes from short-run volatility, idiosyncratic, and measurement errors. We use a factor model to project monthly inflation on a large panel of time series. Exploiting multivariate information we obtain a satisfactory degree of smoothing without using backward looking moving averages, which induce a time delay in the signal. The indicator forecasts inflation and is a useful tool for policy makers. It outperforms other commonly used predictors at 6 months and longer horizons. It tracks past policy interventions of the ECB.