What inflation easing to 3.4 percent means for YOU: How rising prices affects your credit card rate, house prices and 401(K)

The annual inflation rate fell slightly to 3.4 percent in April, from 3.5 percent in March.

Prices continue to be driven up by the costs of gasoline and shelter, which together have contributed to more than 70 percent of the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past 12 months.

So-called ‘core prices’, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, rose 3.6 percent in the year to April – the lowest increase since the same month in 2021.

The figures, released Tuesday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provide some relief for economists after three consecutive CPI releases suggested that price pressures continue to weigh on the U.S. economy.