Here are the key takeaways from the U.S. CPI report for May

U.S. inflation for May came in much tamer than analysts expected. Photo by Yuki Iwamura / Bloomberg

Here are the key takeaways from today’s May United States consumer price index report, released Wednesday:

Both the headline and the core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose by 0.1 per cent from the previous month. None of the 73 economists in Bloomberg’s survey predicted a core reading as low as 0.1 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, core inflation ran at 2.8 per cent for a third straight month, holding at the slowest pace since inflation surged in the spring of 2021. The headline CPI ticked up to 2.4 per cent from 2.3 per cent.

Core inflation was held down by declines in airfares, cars and clothing, along with a tiny 0.06 per cent rise in services prices after stripping