By Jeffrey Sparshott and Kate Davidson
WASHINGTON--U.S. consumer prices rose for the third straight
month in April, the latest sign inflation is stabilizing.
The consumer-price index, which reflects what Americans pay for
everything from breakfast cereal to medical care, rose a seasonally
adjusted 0.1% in April from a month earlier, the Labor Department
said Friday. Excluding volatile food and energy categories,
so-called core prices climbed 0.3%, the largest increase since
January 2013.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected
overall prices to increase 0.1% and core prices to rise 0.2%.
Compared with a year earlier, overall prices actually fell 0.2%
and core prices rose 1.8%.
The consumer price index, like most measures of inflation, began
falling fairly steadily in the middle of last year. The decline
largely reflected the tumbling cost of a barrel of crude oil, which
topped $100 over the summer but then dropped below $50 earlier this
year. Prices have since firmed near $60.
The stronger dollar also has kept prices in check by holding
down the cost of imported goods and services.
The Federal Reserve is closely tracking inflation as it
considers when to lift interest rates from near zero, where they
have held since December 2008. The central bank's preferred
inflation gauge, the price index for personal consumption
expenditures, has undershot a 2% target for nearly three years.
While inflation is expected to remain below 2% in the short
term, Fed officials at their April policy meeting said they expect
it to gradually rise "as the labor market improved further and the
transitory effects of declines in energy prices and non-energy
import prices dissipated," according to minutes released earlier
this week.
Still, officials said they are unlikely to have enough
information to start raising rates at their next meeting in June.
Low rates are meant to spur hiring and investment, and officials at
the central bank want to be sure the economy is on firm footing
before they make their first move.
Friday's report showed energy prices dropped 1.3% from March,
with the gasoline index sliding 1.7%.
Food prices were unchanged from the prior month.
The change in core prices was driven by rising costs for
housing, medical care, furniture and vehicles. Clothing and airfare
prices declined, Friday's report said.
The Labor Department's report on consumer prices can be found
at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf
Write to Jeffrey Sparshott at jeffrey.sparshott@wsj.com and Kate
Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com.