Investing.com - U.S. consumer prices declined in May, indicating that inflation continues to weaken, official data showed on Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said that consumer prices fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, disappointing forecasts for an increase of 0.1% and following a gain of 0.2% in April.
Year-over-year, consumer prices were 1.9% higher from the same month a year earlier, missing expectations for a gain of 2.0% and after rising 2.2% in the preceding month.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, below forecasts for 0.2%. Core consumer prices rose 0.1% in April.
Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 1.7% last month, slowing from 1.9% in the preceding month.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
USD/JPY was at 110.50 from around 110.27 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1249 from 1.1202 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.2765 from 1.2737.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.64, compared to 97.04 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 37 points at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 2 points, while the Nasdaq 100 futures added 11 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,273.97 a troy ounce, compared to $1,267.26 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.11 a barrel from $46.12 earlier.