The Latest on Inflation

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in April, with increases in the cost of gasoline and rents being offset by a drop in motor vehicle prices, the Labor Department said yesterday. In the 12 months through April, the CPI increased 2.5 percent, the biggest gain since February 2017. That followed a 2.4 percent rise in the 12 months to March.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI edged up just 0.1 percent in April. That follows on the heels of two successive monthly increases of 0.2 percent.

Services prices excluding energy rose 2.9 percent in the year through April, but much of that was due to a rise in housing costs. If you also remove rents from that equation, overall services prices were up just 2.3 percent.