Investing.com - Consumer price inflation (CPI) in the U.S. rose slightly more than expected in April, logging its biggest gain in over three years, while the small increase in prices excluding food and energy costs settled in line with forecasts, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices rose 0.4% in April from a month earlier, compared to expectations for a 0.3% gain and an increase of 0.1% in March. That was the largest gain since February 2013.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 1.1% higher from the same month a year earlier, in line with expectations and after having risen 0.9% in March.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased as expected in April by a seasonally adjusted 0.2%. Core CPI rose 0.1% in March.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 2.1% last month, which was also in line with forecasts and lower than March’s gain of 2.2%.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1306 from around 1.1317 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4459 from 1.4473 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.55 from 109.45 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.66, compared to 94.58 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 32 points, or 0.18%, the S&P 500 futures lost 4 points, or 0.20%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 5 points, or 0.11%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,273.05 a troy ounce, compared to $1,273.45 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.80 a barrel from $47.96 earlier.