The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the United States came in at 4.9% year-over-year in April, slightly below the 5% increase seen in March and the 5% forecasted by economists.

Inflation Falls Short Of Expectations In April: What You Should Know

The headline inflation rate rose 0.4% month-on-month in April, up from 0.1% in March and in line with expert expectations. The annual inflation rate was 5.5%, continuing the downtrend started in July 2022.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy goods from the CPI basket, increased 5.5% year-on-year, in line with estimates and slightly below March's 5.6% reading. The monthly increase was 0.4%, also equal to prior month and estimates.

Energy continued to be the primary driver to the inflation decline, with the overall category dropping 5.1% on the year, while fuel oil plummeted 20.2%.

Food prices remained unchanged on monthly base, and were 7.7% higher than a year ago.

Services items continued to add positive contributions to the overall CPI inflation, with shelter rising 0.4% on the month and 8.1% year on year.