US consumer inflation cools in March on falling gas prices

US consumer inflation cooled last month on plunging gas prices, according to government data published Thursday, as consumers and businesses waited nervously for President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs to come into effect.

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The US leader last week announced levies as high as 5O per cent on imports from some countries, sending stock markets tumbling and bond yields rising - only to abruptly change course on all nations except China on Wednesday.

Ahead of the dramatic market movements that accompanied those levies, the consumer price index (CPI) cooled to 2.4 per cent in March from a year ago, the labour Department said in statement - lower than economists’ estimates.

Onamonthlybasis,inflation actually contracted .l per cent from a month earlier, helped by a 6.3 percent drop in gasoline prices, which aided a 2.4 per cent contraction in the energy index. The food index rose O.4 per cent in March.

“What adifference 24hoursmakes,” Northlight Asset Management chiefinvestment officer Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients.