Consumer prices in the United States rose again in April, and measures of underlying inflation stayed high, suggesting that rising costs could persist for months to come—but the annual increase came in a hair under what was expected, cheering investors. The major points:
- Prices rose 0.4% from March to April, up from 0.1% from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down slightly from March’s year-over-year increase and slightly below the Dow Jones estimate of 5.0% inflation, reports CNBC.
- The Fed is paying particular attention to so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs and are regarded as a better gauge of longer-term inflation trends. Core prices rose 0.4% from March to April, the same as from February to March, reports the AP.