Inflation slightly cooled off in April as expected

• US inflation saw some moderation in April.
• The Consumer Price Index increased 3.4% year over year in April, just below March's rise of 3.5%.
• The 3.4% matched what economists expected for April.

Inflation in the US is still above 3%, new Consumer Price Index data released on Wednesday suggested, but cooled off slightly in April.

The Consumer Price Index or CPI, an inflation measure, climbed 3.4% from April 2023 to this past April. That's the same as the 3.4% forecast stated on Investing.com and below March's year-over-year increase of 3.5%.

The CPI increased month-over-month between March and this past April, but a smaller increase than in March. It rose by 0.3% in April after it rose 0.4% in March. Analysts expected the month-over-month change to be a 0.4% increase.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, climbed 3.6% year over year in April, matching the forecast. The previous year-over-year growth was 3.8% in March.

Core CPI increased by 0.3% from March to April, per the news release from the BLS. That follows March's increase of 0.4%. A slight moderation seemed to have been expected — the forecast was 0.3%.

Additionally, a news release from the BLS on Tuesday showed the Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.5% month over month in April after a decline of 0.1%. An increase was expected though for April's month-over-month change; the forecast stated on Investing.com was 0.3%.

"The higher than expected increase in the monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) is not good news for markets and the Federal Reserve," Eugenio Alemán, Raymond James' chief economist, said in an economic note. "However, revisions to previous months' data brought the year-over-year PPI in line with expectations."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.