Tame March CPI Supports Market Recovery

The U.S. Labor Department has provided retail inflation data via the March Consumer Price Index (CPI). CPI came in at -0.2% on the headline report, with only a gain of 0.1% on the core CPI, which excludes food and energy. The Bloomberg consensus was 0.0% on the headline CPI and a gain of 0.2% on the core CPI.

The long and short of the matter is that the consumer prices did not show any surprises after last week's wholesale inflation report via the Producer Price Index (PPI). It usually takes a few high PPI reports before CPI starts to get hot.

Lower gasoline prices were something that everyone was expecting, and that was down 4.4% for the month as energy prices cooled after a hot February. One common theme with last week's PPI was higher food prices.

With yesterday's terror attack in Boston still dominating the news, this news is not large enough outside of the parameters to make or break the financial markets.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Economy, Retail