The Labor
Department announced on Thursday that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) slipped by 0.1 per cent m-o-m in March, following
an unrevised 0.2 per cent m-o-m increase in the previous month. This marked the first monthly drop in the
headline CPI since May 2020
(-0.1 per cent m-o-m).
Over the last
12 months, the CPI rose by 2.4 per cent y-o-y, decelerating from an unrevised gain of 2.8 per cent y-o-y
reported for the period ending in February. This represented the weakest 12-month advance since September 2024 (+2.4 per cent y-o-y).
Economists had anticipated
the U.S. CPI to increase 0.1 per cent m-o-m and 2.6 per cent y-o-y.
According to
the report, the monthly decrease in the headline CPI was mainly due to a 2.4
per cent m-o-m fall in the index for energy, driven by a 6.3-per cent m-o-m
decline in the index for gasoline that more than offset increases in the
indexes for electricity (+0.9 per cent m-o-m) and natural gas (+3.6 per cent
m-o-m). Meanwhile, the food index climbed 0.4 per cent m-o-m in March.
The core CPI,
excluding volatile food and fuel costs, edged up 0.1 per cent m-o-m in March after an unrevised 0.2 per cent m-o-m gain in the previous month.
This marked the softest monthly gain in core CPI since June 2024 (+0.1 per cent m-o-m).
In the 12
months through March, the core CPI jumped by 2.8 per cent, easing
from an unrevised 3.1 per cent increase for the 12 months ending February. This
was the weakest 12-month rise since March 2021 (+1.6 per cent).
Economists
had forecast the core CPI to advance by 0.3 per cent m-o-m and 3.0 per cent
y-o-y last month.