Americans' short-term inflation expectations fall in April: New York Fed

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - American consumers' short-term inflation expectations declined in April, according to a survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The median one-year-ahead inflation expectation decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.4% in April, the survey showed.

The figure stood at 4.7% in March, when consumers' inflation expectations had increased for the first time since October last year.

While the one-year-ahead expected price changes for gasoline increased by 0.5 percentage point to 5.1%, they remained unchanged for the cost of medical care at 9.3% and rent at 9.2%, according to the survey.

Inflation expectations, however, increased slightly at the medium- and longer-term horizons, the New York Fed said in its report.

Both the three-year and five-year-ahead inflation expectations rose by 0.1 percentage point to 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively.

Consumer inflation in the US rose 9.1% annually in June, the largest 12-month increase since November 1981. With the US Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening and rapid interest rate increases, consumer inflation eased to 5% in March.

The US consumer inflation figure for April will be released Wednesday at 8.30 a.m. EDT.