Consumer Price Index Rises 0.4% in May

June 14, 2006 8:40 AM, EDT

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.S. consumer prices rose 0.4% in May, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The so-called “core” consumer price index excluding food and energy rose 0.3%, Labor said.

The level matched forecasts by economists, while they had forecast a 0.2% rise in the core CPI, Bloomberg reported.

Core inflation over the past three months has been the highest since 1995, Bloomberg said.

The CPI gain, a measure of inflation, followed a 0.6% gain in April.

The CPI is the government's broadest gauge of costs for goods and services. Almost 60% of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services.

If consumer prices are climbing, it could reflect an increase in demand for consumer goods, which increases the demand for trucking services.