Consumer prices rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.3 percent in April, in line with expectations – but, compared to 12 months earlier, the increase was still more than twice the monthly increase from year-ago posted when former President Donald Trump left office, according to the monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released Wednesday.
April’s 3.4 percent CPI rise marks the 37th straight monthly increase of more than 3.0 percent from the prior 12 months. In January of 2021, CPI edged up 1.4 percent, compared to January 2020. Back in March of 2021, it increased 2.6 percent, before jumping 4.2% the next month and beginning its current 37-month run.
In April of this year, the seasonally-adjusted, month-to-month increase in the so-called “core” CPI (excluding food and energy) matched the overall CPI rise of 0.3 percent. Combined, shelter and gas accounted for more than seventy percent of the monthly increase.
Key seasonally-adjusted percent changes from March include:
- Up: Shelter 0.4 percent (the largest single factor in the “core” increase)
- Up: Gas 2.8 percent
- Up: Energy 1.1 percent
- Up: Motor Vehicle Insurance 1.8 percent
- Up: Medical Care 0.4 percent
- Up: Apparel 1.2 percent
- Down: Used Cars/Trucks -1.4 percent
- Down: New Vehicles -0.4 percent
- Down: Household Furnishings/Operations -0.5 percent
The all-items CPI was up 3.4 percent from April of 2023. While the cost of motor vehicle insurance saw, by far, the largest percent increase from 12 months earlier, the higher cost of shelter accounted for than two-thirds of the 3.6 percent “core” CPI rise from year-ago.
Compared to April of 2023, unadjusted increases include:
- Up: Shelter 5.5 percent
- Up: Energy 2.6 percent
- Up: Gasoline 1.2 percent
- Up: Electricity 5.1 percent
- Up: Motor Vehicle Insurance 22.6
- Up: Medical Care 2.6 percent
- Up: Personal Care 3.7 percent
- Up: Food 2.2 percent
- Down: Natural Gas -1.9 percent
- Down: Fuel Oil -0.8 percent
The business and economic reporting of CNSNews is funded in part with a gift made in memory of Dr. Keith C. Wold.