US Consumer Prices Rise By 8.3% in Year to April, Easing Slightly From 8.5% in March

Earlier, the American Automobile Association reported that the average price of gasoline was $4.37. That was the highest price ever for regular auto fuel in the United States.

Consumer prices in the US in April rose by 8.3 percent year-on-year after rising by 8.5 percent a month earlier, only in April they added 0.3 percent, according to a press release from the country's Department of Labor.

Analysts polled by the DailyFX portal expected a slowdown in the annual rate to 8.1 percent monthly - to 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials were debating the possibility of a 75-basis point (bps) interest rate hike when they meet in June, after instituting increases of 50-bps and 25 bps at their May and March meetings, respectively. Those will be the highest US rate hikes in at least a generation as the central bank tries to beat back price increases.

Earlier, in its bid to take a bigger bite out of inflation, the Federal Reserve raised US interest rates by their most in 20 years, adding a half-percentage point to an earlier quarter-point hike in March. Prior to that, it had left rates at almost zero for two years after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The central bank plans another five rate hikes before the end of 2022, or seven altogether for this year. It also said it will likely extend the tightening cycle into 2023 to bring inflation to its desired level. Powell said earlier this week that the strong economy meant there was little chance of the country slipping into recession even if the Fed were to introduce a couple more half-percentage point rate hikes.