US consumer prices leaped across the board in May, putting in the strongest monthly gain in more than a year, the Labor Department said today.
The US consumer price index rose 0.4% from April, the largest increase since February 2013. Price rises were broad-based, with shelter, electricity, food, airline fares and petrol contributing to the gains.
Prices for food rose 0.5% and energy prices jumped 0.9%. Stripping out food and energy prices, core CPI rose 0.3% in May, the biggest jump since August 2011.
US consumer prices heated up more than expected last month; the CPI increase was double analysts' average estimate. On a 12-month basis, CPI was up 2.1%, the largest increase since October 2012, and core CPI rose 2%.
The data came hours ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to keep its monetary policy on track, with a steady drawdown of the bond-buying stimulus programme and no change in the central bank's near-zero key interest rate.
The Fed's inflation target is 2%. Its preferred measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, stood at an annual rate of 1.6% in April.
