Inflation slows to 5% in March, a nearly 2-year low, but core consumer price gains accelerate

Inflation slowed for a ninth straight month in March amid drops in both gasoline and grocery price.

But an underlying inflation measure that better reflects long-term trends accelerated on another surge in rent.  

Consumer prices increased 5% from a year earlier, down from 6% in February and a 40-year high of 9.1% last June, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index. 

That’s the smallest annual gain since May 2021.

On a monthly basis, prices edged up just 0.1% following a 0.4% increase in February, resuming a previous downshift.

But core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items and capture longer-lasting trends, increased 0.4% from February following a 0.5% bump in the previous month. That pushed up the annual increase from 5.5% to 5.6%.