U.S. consumer prices fell for a third straight month in May and underlying inflation was weak as demand remained subdued amid a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Labor Department said on Wednesday its consumer price index dipped 0.1% last month after plunging 0.8% in April, which was the largest decline since December 2008.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of U.S. recessions, declared on Monday that the economy slipped into recession in February. Nonessential businesses were shuttered in much of the country in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, almost bringing the economy to a halt.
May marked the first time that the core CPI has dropped for three consecutive months. In the 12 months through May, the core CPI rose 1.2%, the smallest gain since March 2011. The core CPI increased 1.4% year-on-year in April.
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