Highlights:

1. Consumer prices rose 1.8% in the 12 months to April, following a 1.4% increase in March. Excluding energy, prices advanced 1.1%, compared with a 1.0% increase in March. On an unadjusted monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.3% in April, after remaining unchanged in March.

All-items Consumer Price Index (CPI):

1. The rise in the all-items CPI was due mostly to gasoline prices. Consumers paid 16.3% more at the pump in April than they did a year earlier, compared with a 17.2% increase in March.
2. Natural gas prices were no longer exerting significant downward pressure on the CPI. Prices for natural gas were 3.3% higher in April than they were a year earlier. This followed a 22.4% decline in the 12 months to March. April’s increase was the first 12-month increase in natural gas prices in over a year.
3. Energy prices rose 9.8% between April 2009 and April 2010, after rising 5.8% in March.
4. Prices for purchase of passenger vehicles increased 5.3% on a year-over-year basis in April, following a 3.9% rise in March.
5. All major components in the CPI, except clothing and footwear, recorded increases in April.
6. Upward pressure on the 12-month change came primarily from higher prices for transportation (+6.2%), shelter (+0.8%), and food (+1.0).

Main contributors to the 12-month change in the CPI:

Main upward contributors:

1. Gasoline (+16.3%)
2. Purchase of passenger vehicles (+5.3%)
3. Passenger vehicle insurance premiums (+5.6%)
4. Property taxes (+4.3%)
5. Food purchased from restaurants (+2.3%)

Main downward contributors:

1. Mortgage interest cost (-6.1%)
2. Air transportation (-8.7%)
3. Furniture (-4.9%)
4. Video equipment (-15.2%)
5. Travel tours (-5.7%)

Main contributors to the monthly change in the CPI, not seasonally adjusted:

Main upward contributors:

1. Natural gas (+6.4%)
2. Fresh vegetables (+4.9%)
3. Health care (+1.6%)
4. Homeowner's replacement cost (+0.9%)
5. Air transportation (+3.1%)

Main downward contributors:

1. Fresh fruit (-3.9%)
2. Non-alcoholic beverages (-2.3%)
3. Mortgage interest cost (-0.4%)
4. Bakery products (-0.9%)
5. Household textiles (-1.9%)