Inflation gauge shows positive signs for US economy [Video]

WASHINGTON — A measure of prices that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve suggests that inflation pressures in the U.S. economy are continuing to ease.

Friday’s Commerce Department report showed that consumer prices were flat from April to May, the mildest such performance in more than four years. Measured from a year earlier, prices rose 2.6% last month, slightly less than in April.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 0.1% from April to May, the smallest increase since the spring of 2020, when the pandemic erupted and shut down the economy. Compared with a year earlier, core prices were up 2.6% in May, the lowest increase in more than three years.

Prices for physical goods, such as appliances and furniture, actually fell 0.4% from April to …