(Washington) Inflation slowed more than expected in May in the United States after the rebound at the start of the year, which should give some optimism to the Fed which meets on Wednesday, and while the subject is key, less than five months before the presidential election.
The CPI inflation index, on which pensions are indexed, stood at 3.3% over one year in May compared to 3.4% in April, the Labor Department announced on Wednesday.
And over a month, prices have even, on average, remained identical to those of April: the change in the index is 0%, compared to 0.3% the previous month.
This is better than expected by analysts, who expected 0.1% over one month and 3.4% over one year, according to the Market Watch consensus.
Energy prices have fallen, particularly those of gasoline at the pump. But those for housing in particular, as well as restaurants, continued to climb.
Excluding volatile food and energy data, so-called core inflation is also evolving more favorably than expected, at 0.2% over one month compared to 0.3% in April, and 3.4 % compared to 3.7% year-on-year.
Analysts were expecting 0.3% and 3.5%.
Inflation started to fall again in April, for the first time since January.
“Price pressures remain elevated, but showed a welcome deceleration last month,” commented Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.
These figures should be welcomed by the American central bank (Fed) which will conclude a meeting at midday on Wednesday. However, they remain well above its target of 2% over one year.
No change in rates is expected at this stage, and they should be maintained in the range of 5.25 to 5.50% where they have been since last July, their highest level in more than 20 years.
Federal Reserve officials will, however, say how many rate cuts each of them is planning for 2024.
The PCE inflation index, the one favored by the American central bank (Fed), remained stable in April at 2.7% over one year. The May figures will be published at the end of June.