WASHINGTON — A key inflation gauge moved higher in May in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated while Americans cut back on their spending. Prices rose 2.3 per cent in May compared with a year ago, up from just 2.1 per cent in April, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.7 per cent from a year earlier, an increase from 2.5 per cent the previous month. Both figures are modestly above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target. At the same time, Americans cut back on spending for the first time since January, as overall spending fell 0.1 per cent. The inflation figures suggest that President Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffsare still having only a modest effect on prices. The costs of some goods, such as toys and sporting goods, have risen, but those increases have been partly offset by falling prices for new cars, airline fares, and apartment rentals, among other items. On a monthly basis, in fact, inflation was mostly tame. Prices rose just 0.1 per cent in May from April, according to the Commerce Department, the same as the previous month. Core prices climbed 0.2 per cent in May, more than economists expected and above last month’s 0.1 per cent. The weakness in spending in part likely reflects reduced purchases of cars and other manufactured goods after Americans stepped up their spending on those items this spring to get ahead of tariffs. Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press
