With prices for gasoline, shelter, and food all rising, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of April.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3 percent in April after edging up by 0.2 percent in March. Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by about 0.3 percent.
The increase in consumer prices was partly due to continued growth in food prices, which rose by 0.4 percent for the third consecutive month.
Prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs showed a notable 1.5 percent increase in April and are up by 3.9 percent over the last three months.
A rebound in energy prices also contributed to higher consumer prices, with energy prices rising by 0.3 percent in April after dipping by 0.1 percent in March.
Gasoline prices surged up by 2.3 percent in April after falling for three straight months. Prices for natural gas showed a more modest 0.3 percent increase.
Excluding the increases in food and energy prices, core consumer prices still rose by 0.2 percent in April, matching the increase seen in the previous month. Core prices had been expected to tick up by 0.1 percent.
The Labor Department said the growth in core prices reflected increases by most of the major components, including shelter, medical care, airline fares, new vehicles, used cars and trucks, and recreation.
With the monthly increases in prices, the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.0 percent in April from 1.5 percent in March, representing the biggest increase since last July.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth also ticked up to 1.8 percent in April from 1.7 percent in the previous month.
Paul Dales, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said, "It's possible that some of these rises are payback from the earlier weakness generated by the bad weather. But most of that rebound took place in March."
"In short, this could be the start of a widespread pick-up in price pressures that will take both the CPI and PCE measures of core inflation above the Fed's 2% target," he added.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing that producer prices rose at their fastest pace in over a year in April.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose by 0.6 percent in April following a 0.5 percent increase in March.
The monthly price growth reflected the biggest increase since September of 2012 and exceeded economist estimates for an uptick of about 0.2 percent.
Core producer prices also showed continued growth, climbing by 0.5 percent in April after rising by 0.6 percent in March. Core prices had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.
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Forex News
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.