Last month, US inflation fell from 40-year highs

Inflation may have slowed in April from a 40-year high after a year of soaring gas and food prices, the first slowdown following seven consecutive months of prices rising.

Monthly price increases are also easing, as are other inflation indicators, if the forecasted drop in annual inflation occurs.

“It’s too early to declare victory,” said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. “It’s not going to get any worse, but it’s still at an uncomfortably high level.”

Biden blamed chronic supply chain snarls related to the swift economic rebound from the pandemic, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for igniting inflation.

Many economists expect annual price increases to settle into a 5% to 6% range by year’s end, a historically high level that will probably exceed average wage gains. April rate would still mark the second-highest inflation in four decades and an ongoing burden for families, especially lower-income Americans.

President Biden said his administration will help ease price increases by shrinking the government’s budget deficit and by fostering competition in industries, like meatpacking, that are dominated by a few industry giants.

11 May 2022