WASHINGTON – The seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) last month rose 0.4 percent to 2.6 percent above its year-ago level, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
The increase lagged both the 0.5-percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 80 economists, and the index’ 0.6-percent March advance.
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Energy costs again led the rise, increasing 2.4 percent in April to 2.9 percent above year-ago prices; petroleum-based energy prices increased 4.6 percent last month after rising 10.1 percent in March. Food prices rose 0.4 percent last month and shelter costs rose 0.3 percent; each exceeded its March gains.
The closely watched core inflation rate excluding food and energy rose 0.2 percent in April – after rising 0.1 percent in March – to 2.3 percent above its year-ago level. The increase was the smallest in the past year, Bloomberg News noted, and may reassure Federal Reserve policymakers, who after meeting last week said inflation remains their “predominant concern.”
“It is now becoming more apparent that core inflation has peaked and is moving lower in response to anemic economic activity,” Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, American workers’ real average weekly earnings last month fell 0.5 percent from their March level, to 3.4 percent above their level in April 2006, the BLS said in a separate report.
Last month’s 0.3-percent decline in average weekly hours and a 0.5-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) were partially offset by a 0.2-percent rise in average hourly earnings.
Before adjustment for seasonal changes and inflation, weekly earnings averaged $589.90, compared with $ 566.81 a year earlier.
Additional information on the 19-page CPI report is available at www.bls.gov/cpi; information on the five-page Real Earnings report is available at www.bls.gov/ces.
