WASHINGTON (AP) — A price gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve cooled slightly last month, a sign that inflation may be easing after running high in the first three months of this year.
Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices, excluding the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.2% from March to April, down from 0.3% in the previous month. Measured from a year earlier, the so-called “core” prices climbed 2.8% in April, the same as in March.
Inflation fell sharply in the second half of last year but then leveled off above the Fed’s 2% target in the first few months of 2024. With polls showing that costlier rents, groceries and gasoline are angering voters as the presidential campaign intensifies, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have sought to heap the blame on President Joe Biden.
A stream of recent remarks by Fed officials have underscored their intention to keep borrowing costs high as long as needed to fully defeat inflation. As recently as March, the Fed’s policymakers had collectively forecast three rate cuts this year, starting as early as June. Yet Wall Street traders now expect just one rate cut this year, in November.