The U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased by 2.1% in April compared to the same month last year.

A customer is selecting fruit at a Walmart store in Los Angeles, U.S. /Courtesy of Yonhap News Agency

The U.S. Department of Commerce said on the 30th (local time) that the PCE price index for April rose 2.1% from the same month last year. This is a 0.1% increase compared to March.

Excluding the volatile categories of energy and food, the core PCE price index increased by 2.5% compared to the same month last year and by 0.1% from the previous month.

The year-on-year PCE inflation rate fell short of the forecasts compiled by Dow Jones by 0.1 percentage points for both the headline index and the core index. The month-over-month increase matched the forecast.