US consumer prices held steady in April as energy prices fell for the first time this year, official data showed.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index (CPI) was unchanged from March, when it rose 0.3%.
Energy prices dropped 1.7% from March, led by a sharp 2.6% decline in petrol prices, while food prices rose 0.2%.
Excluding energy and food prices, which are more volatile, the core CPI rose 0.2% from March amid increases for housing, car, airline fares, medical care and apparel.
The inflation numbers matched analyst expectations.
On a 12-month basis, the all-items consumer price index was up 2.3% from April 2011, the lowest figure since February 2011, the department noted. Core CPI also increased 2.3%.
"This is the first time since October 2009 that the 12-month all-items change has not exceeded the 12-month change for all items less food and energy," the department said.
The food index has risen 3.1% over the last 12 months, and the energy index has risen 0.9%. Though annual consumer inflation is above the Federal Reserve's 2% benchmark, the central bank has long insisted that inflationary pressures from higher oil prices were transitory.
Online sales edge US retail sales higher April
US retail sales rose a bare 0.1% in April from March, helped by online sales, the US Commerce Department said today.
Retail sales, excluding the automobile sector, were also up 0.2% on the month, the department said.
Retail and food services sales in May were slightly slower than the 0.2% increase expected by most analysts for the headline number and the ex-car number. It was the weakest retail growth in the year to date, raising concerns about the fragile US recovery.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of economic growth in the US.
On a 12-month basis, April retail sales were up 6.4%. The weaker sales growth in April followed a much stronger March, though the department revised the February reading down a tenth point to 0.7%.
Compared with March, nine of the the department's 13 components rose, led by a 1.1% increase in online retail sales. The biggest decliner was building material and garden supplies sales, down 1.8%. Car and vehicle parts sales, whose volume represents nearly 20% of the index, rose 0.5% in April, after a 0.2% gain in March.
