New York: Outperforming economists' expectations, consumer prices rose 3.3 percent in May compared to a year ago, easing slightly from April, the media reported.
According to reports, price increases slowed from a peak of about 9 percent.
However, inflation still stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2 percent, reports added.
Meanwhile, core inflation (which excludes volatile food and energy prices) increased 3.4 percent over the year ending in May, cooling notably from the previous month.
For nearly a year, the Fed has held interest rates steady at their highest level since 2001, hoping that elevated borrowing costs would slow economic activity, reduce consumer demand and lower prices.
Average hourly wages surged 4.1 per cent over the year ending in May, said the report.
Services prices excluding energy, which include medical, transportation and housing items, climbed just 0.2 per cent.
According to Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, “Inflation has basically been defeated.”
The Federal Reserve has sought to slow the pace of price increases by raising interest rates, said reports.
