Consumer Prices , Only Rose 5% in March.
'The Hill' reports that Labor Department data released
on April 12 shows inflation continues to cool.
Consumer prices fell from an annual increase
of 6% in February to 5% in March.
Prices only rose 0.1% on a monthly basis.
The numbers are slightly better than
economists' predictions of a 5.1%
annual increase and 0.2% monthly increase.
Grocery prices dropped from a 10.2% annual increase to an 8.4% annual increase. .
Core inflation, which doesn't account for food
and energy, increased 5.6% annually. .
The Federal Reserve has raised
interest rates nine times since last March.
While labor demand continues to be strong, inflation still outpaces wage growth for much of the country.
The change in real average hourly
earnings combined with a decrease
of 0.9% in the average workweek
resulted in a 1.6% decrease in real
average weekly earnings over the period, U.S. Labor Department, via report