Consumer Prices (Mar.)

Although headline consumer prices increased by a slightly smaller than expected 0.2% m/m in March (the consensus forecast was 0.3% m/m), there are now clear signs of a firming in underlying inflation. Maybe not enough of a firming yet to make Fed officials "reasonably confident" that inflation will climb back to the 2% target over the medium-term. But the slump in energy prices clearly hasn't triggered a wider deflationary spiral in the US.