Amid a sharp rise in energy prices, new data released Tuesday by the Labor Department showed that U.S. consumer inflation increased in April broadly in line with market expectations.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.6% during the month, following a 0.9% increase in March. The monthly reading matched economist forecasts.
On an annual basis, consumer inflation accelerated to 3.8% in April from 3.3% in the previous month, also meeting consensus estimates.
Core Inflation Comes in Slightly Higher Than Expected
Excluding the more volatile food and energy categories, core CPI increased 0.4% in April after edging up 0.2% in March.
Economists had expected a more moderate increase of 0.3%.
Annual core inflation accelerated to 2.8% from 2.6% in March, slightly above analyst expectations for a 2.7% reading.