Inflation barreled ahead at 8.3% in April from a year ago, remaining near 40-year highs – memberFOREX.com

• • The consumer price index accelerated to 8.3% in April, more than the 8.1% estimate and near the highest level in more than 40 years.
  • Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was also higher than expected, rising 6.2%.
  • Housing costs, which make up about one-third of the CPI, rose at their fastest pace since 1991.
  • Inflation-adjusted earnings continued to decline for workers, falling 2.6% last year due to rising costs of living.

Inflation rose again in April, continuing a rise that has pushed consumers to the brink and threatened the economy’s expansion, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, rose 8.3% from a year ago, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for an 8.1%. profit. That represents a slight ease from the peak in March but is still close to the highest level since the summer of 1982.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI still rose 6.2%, against expectations for a 6% gain, fueling hopes that inflation rose in March.

The month-over-month gains were also higher than expected – 0.3% in headline CPI compared to 0.2% estimate and 0.6% increase in core, against the outlook for a 0.4% gain.

Rising prices also mean that workers continue to lose land. Real wages adjusted for inflation fell 0.1% in the month despite a nominal increase of 0.3% in average hourly earnings. Last year, real earnings fell 2.6% even though average hourly earnings were up 5.5%.

Inflation is the single biggest threat to the recovery that began early in the Covid pandemic and sees the economy in the 2021 period at its largest annual growth rate since 1984. The increase in pump prices and the grocery store is a problem, but inflation spreads beyond these two areas to housing, car sales and many other areas.

Federal Reserve officials responded to the problem with two interest rate hikes this year and promised more until inflation reaches the central bank’s 2% goal. However, Wednesday’s data showed that the Fed has a big job ahead.