A shopper in Greenville, New York, April 30, 2023.Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesInflation in April notched its lowest reading in two years, as price pressures for consumers continue to moderate from multidecade highs and costs for household staples appear to be in retreat.The consumer price index, a key barometer of inflation, increased 4.9% in April versus a year ago. That is the smallest annual reading since April 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, said Wednesday.related investing news 20 hours agoThe index also fell from 5% in March, marking the 10th consecutive month of declines.More from Personal Finance:What debt ceiling standoff means for money market fundsWhy missing one $2 expense could derail a national park tripMIT economist helps decide when recessions begin and end”Increasingly, we can be confident that inflation is coming back in” to target, said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.Inflation measures how quickly prices are changing across the U.S. economy. The CPI measures anything from fruit and vegetable prices to those for a haircut or concert ticket.Since the CPI reading was a positive number in April, it means consumers didn’t see prices falling, in a broad sense. But it shows the rate at which they’re rising has slowed significantly from the 9.1% peak in June 2022.Policymakers aim to keep inflation at about 2% a year. It may take another year or so to reach that target, but “we’re definitively headed in that direction,” Zandi said.Where consumers saw prices fall in AprilConsumers saw average prices decline outright in April in certain categories.Grocery prices, for example, retreated 0.2% during the month, following a 0.3% decrease in March. This trend should continue as supply chains continu …
