Key Inflation Gauge Ticked Higher Last Month

A key inflation gauge moved higher in May in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated while Americans cut back on their spending. Prices rose 2.3% in May compared with a year ago, up from just 2.1% in April, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.7% from a year earlier, an increase from 2.5% the previous month. Both figures are modestly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. At the same time, Americans cut back on spending for the first time since January, as overall spending fell 0.1%.

• The inflation figures suggest that President Trump's broad-based tariffs are still having only a modest effect on prices, the AP reports. The costs of some goods, such as toys and sporting goods, have risen, but those increases have been partly offset by falling prices for new cars, airline fares, and apartment rentals, among other items.

• On a monthly basis, in fact, inflation was mostly tame. Prices rose just 0.1% in May from April, according to the Commerce Department, the same as the previous month. Core prices climbed 0.2% in May, more than economists expected and above last month's 0.1%.
• The weakness in spending in part likely reflects reduced purchases of cars and other manufactured goods after Americans stepped up their spending on those items this spring to get ahead of tariffs.
• While the May price rises show that tariffs aren't having a major effect on inflation yet, many economists expect steeper price rises over the summer, which is why the Federal Reserve has been reluctant to cut interest rates, the Wall Street Journal reports.