The Federal Reserve is considering raising interest rates to address increasing prices, but a preferred measure of inflation decreased significantly last month.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released data showing that the annual personal consumption expenditures price index dropped from 5.1 percent in February to 4.2 percent in March.

The decrease was largely due to a sharp decline in energy prices.

Futures traders predict that the Federal Reserve will raise its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point.

The Fed has been closely monitoring inflation to bring it back down to its long-term target of two percent.

While the annual PCE decreased significantly, the core PCE only slightly decreased from 4.7 percent to 4.6 percent in February.

During a recent rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that the central bank may only raise rates one more time before ending the current hiking cycle. On a month-to-month basis, the PCE price index increased by 0.1 percent from February to March.