Inflation hits fresh 40-year high in May with consumer prices surging 8.6%

Inflation remained painfully high in May, with consumer prices hitting a new four-decade high that exacerbated a financial strain for millions of Americans and worsened a political crisis for President Biden.

The Labor Department said Friday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April. Those figures were both higher than the 8.3% headline figure and 0.7% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists. 

It marks the fastest pace of Inflation since December 1981. 

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 6% from the previous year, also more than Refinitiv expected. Core prices also rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, suggesting that underlying inflationary pressures remain strong.