US consumer prices posted their biggest rise in nearly a year in April as fuel prices moved higher, the US government said today.
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.5 per cent in April, the US Labor Department said, as petrol prices climbed over 10 per cent to post their biggest gain since June 2000.
It was the biggest increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since May of last year, when it rose a matching 0.5 per cent.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI rose a slightly higher-than-expected 0.3 per cent, after a slim 0.1 per cent March gain.
Economists had expected consumer prices to rise 0.4 per cent, with core prices up 0.2 per cent.
Although the rise is prices was somewhat bigger than expected, economists said it did not mean the Federal Reserve would be pressured to raise rates in the near term.