The consumer price index in April increased by 0.3% from the previous month. According to the Department of Labor, prices have increased by 3.4% compared to 12 months ago.
Economists had expected sales to rise 0.3% month-on-month and 3.4% over the 12 months.
The Ministry of Labor announced last month that the consumer price index rose 0.4% from the previous month and 3.5% from the previous year.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3% in the month. Compared to a year ago, core inflation is up 3.6%, slightly lower than the 3.8% reported in March.
The April food index was flat month-on-month, but rose 2.2% year-on-year. Grocery store prices fell 0.2%, while restaurant prices rose 0.3%. Fueled by a 2.8% rise in gasoline prices, energy prices rose 1.1% from the previous month.
Prices of goods excluding energy fell by 0.1%, falling for the second consecutive month. New car prices fell by 0.4%, and used car prices fell by 1.4%. Auto insurance prices rose 1.8% in April. Clothing prices soared 1.2%.
Service prices increased by 0.4% compared to March and by 5.3% compared to the same period last year.
Inflation fell last year from multi-decade highs, but soared in the first months of this year. When the consumer price index spiked in January, many analysts said it was likely a seasonal anomaly and expected inflation to start falling again soon. In fact, inflation rates in February and March also exceeded expectations. In the first three months of this year, core inflation rose at an annual rate of 4.6%. That’s the highest three-month annual rate of inflation for any period between August 1991 and 2020, according to Harvard University economist Jason Furman.
Consumer inflation reached a recent peak of 9.2% in June 2022, but has since retreated as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates at a record pace. Supply chain disruptions were a major factor in inflation in commodity prices.
The Fed entered this year expecting to cut its benchmark federal funds rate three times. But officials said they would not start cutting rates until they had more confidence that inflation would return to the 2% target. Lower-than-expected inflation reports in January, February, and March prompted officials and markets to backtrack on rate cut expectations, with markets moving to reflect expectations of only one or two rate cuts by the end of the year. ing.
