While high inflation is still causing hardships for millions of households, any slowing of price increases, if sustained, would provide some modest relief. The report also showed that consumer spending rose at a healthy 0.9% annual rate from March to April, outpacing the month-to-month inflation rate for a fourth straight time. Yet all that spending is helping keep prices high and could make the Federal Reserve's goal of taming inflation even harder. Still, high inflation is forcing consumers, on average, to save less. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices rose 0.3% from March to April, matching the previous month's rise.

Source: ABC News May 27, 2022 20:10 UTC