US inflation eases to lowest level in nearly two years
FirstpostWashington: The consumers have a sigh of relief as U.S. consumer inflation eased in March. Measured from a year earlier, prices were up just 5% in March, down sharply from February’s 6% year-over-year increase and the smallest rise in nearly two years. Price increases in the economy’s vast service sector — ranging from rents and restaurant meals to haircuts and auto insurance — are keeping core inflation high, at least for now. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund, a 190-nation lending organization, warned that persistently high inflation around the world — and efforts by central banks, including the Fed, to fight it — would likely slow global growth this year and next. One unfortunate reason inflation could decline is that economists expect growth to slow in the United States later this year, in part because turmoil in the banking sector may cause banks to restrict lending.