Consumer Prices Rise 0.2% in April

Consumer prices in the U.S. in April rose only 0.2% from March, despite a big leap in food costs.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy from the calculation, ticked up 0.1%, half of the expected increase. The overall CPI was estimated to have risen 0.3%.

Year over year, core consumer inflation was up 2.3%, slightly below the consensus economists' forecast of 2.4%. The overall CPI climbed 3.9% year over year and was also under the expected increase of 4%.

For the month, food prices surged 0.9%, the biggest advance in nearly two decades. Energy prices, the government said, were unchanged from March.