Consumer Price Index Declines in April

The consumer price index fell 0.4% in April, the biggest downturn in more than four years, the Labor Department said Thursday.

It was the biggest decline in the government’s main inflation gauge since December 2008. The core CPI rate, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1%.

Economists had forecast a 0.3% drop in the CPI, Bloomberg News reported.

Almost 60% of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services. Climbing consumer prices could reflect an increase in demand for consumer goods, which increases demand for trucking services.