Inflation speeds up in April

Name: WORLD
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Shoppers look at items in Bed, Bath and Beyond, in New York. Associated Press/ Photo by Mark Lennihan

U.S. consumer prices for goods and services in April jumped 0.8 percent, the biggest monthly gain in more than a decade. Compared to a year ago, prices have increased 4.2 percent, its fastest rate since 2008. This price acceleration has been building for months, causing concern among some economists that inflation will accelerate. “Inflation fears are growing and threaten to harm America’s economic recovery,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said in a tweet yesterday.

What goods and services were affected? Everything from food and clothes to housing prices rose sharply. The cost of used cars and trucks surged a record-setting 10 percent and accounted for about one-third of April’s overall increases. Prices for both new and used cars have soared due to a large demand and a computer chip shortage that has slowed auto production.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher and David Bahnsen discuss two positive trends in the U.S. economy in The World and Everything In It.

Leigh Jones

Leigh is features editor for WORLD. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate who spent six years as a newspaper reporter in Texas before joining WORLD News Group. Leigh also co-wrote Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes. She resides with her husband and daughter in Houston, Texas.