The Labor
Department reported on Wednesday the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) increased
0.3 per cent m-o-m in April, following an unrevised 0.4 per cent
m-o-m gain in the
previous month. This was the softest one-month rise
in headline CPI in three months.
Over the last
12 months, the CPI climbed by 3.4 per cent y-o-y, slowing from an unrevised soar
of 3.5 per cent y-o-y reported for the period ending in March.
Economists had forecast
the U.S. CPI to move up 0.4 per cent m-o-m and 3.4 per cent y-o-y.
According to
the report, the index for shelter (+0.4 per cent m-o-m) and the index for
gasoline (+2.8 per cent m-o-m) both increased in April, contributing over
seventy per cent of the monthly gain in the index for all items. Meanwhile, the
food index remained
unchanged.
The core CPI,
excluding volatile food and fuel costs, went up 0.3 per cent m-o-m in April after an unrevised 0.4 per cent m-o-m gain in the previous month. This
represented the smallest monthly increase in core CPI since December 2023 (+0.3
per cent m-o-m).
In the 12
months through April, the core CPI surged by 3.6 per cent, following an unrevised 3.8 per cent increase for the 12 months ending March. This marked the weakest 12-month
rise since April 2021 (+3.0 per cent).
Economists
had expected the core CPI to rise by 0.3 per cent m-o-m and 3.6 per cent y-o-y in
April.