U.S. Inflation Rate Soars to 8.6%, Highest in 41 Years

John Carney

Prices faced by U.S. consumers rose 8.6 percent in May, defying expectations that inflation had peaked in March and indicating that the Federal Reserve’s task of bringing it back under control will be more challenging than officials anticipated.

Compared with April, prices rose one percent.

Inflation hit a four-decade high of 8.557 percent in March and moved down to 8.3 percent in April. Economists had expected inflation to tick down to 8.2 percent in May.

This is the twelfth straight month of inflation above 5 percent.

Excluding food and energy, prices were up six percent compared with a year ago, more than the 5.9 percent anticipated. On the month, prices rose 0.6 percent, matching last month’s gain and beating the expectation for a slowdown to 0.5 percent.