The consumer price index (CPI) of United States increased slightly in April, suggesting that the Federal Reserve might continue current gradual pace in tightening the monetary policy.
The CPI rose 0.2 per cent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis after falling 0.1 per cent in March, said the Labour Department on Thursday.
On the year-on-year basis, CPI rose 2.5 per cent, the biggest increase since February 2017. It was slightly higher than the 2.4 per cent growth in March, reports Xinhua.
Excluding the volatile food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.1 per cent in April, slower than the 0.2 per cent growth in the previous month.
The core CPI rose 2.1 per cent over the year, the same pace in March.
Inflation in US has been on the rise since beginning of this year, paving way for the Fed to further tighten the monetary policy.
The price index for personal consumption expenditure (PCE), an inflation gauge preferred by the Fed, rose 2.0 per cent from a year ago in March, the biggest increase since February 2017 and meeting the Fed's 2-per cent inflation target.
Excluding the volatile food and energy prices, the core PCE price index rose 1.9 per cent in March, also the largest increase since February 2017.
In its latest policy meeting in early May, the Fed expressed its confidence in inflation outlook, saying that "inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to run near the Committee's symmetric 2.0 per cent objective over the medium term."
Market investors are expecting that the Fed would raise interest rates for the second time this year in their next policy meeting in June. In view of recent improved inflation data, investors also expected that the central bank might raise interest rates by a total of three to four times this year.