Inflation continued to rise in April as Iran war impacted energy prices

This is a developing story about the April 2026 CPI inflation report and will be updated with more details.

Inflation surged in April as consumer prices rose amid the impact of the Iran war on the energy market and broader economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.6% from a month ago and is 3.8% higher than last year.

Expectations vs. reality

The 0.6% monthly increase was in line with the expectations of economists polled by LSEG, while the annual figure was hotter than the prediction of 3.7%.

So-called core prices, which exclude volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.4% on a monthly basis and 2.8% from a year ago. Both of those figures were higher than economists' predictions of 0.3% and 2.7%, respectively.