At 4.2% in April, US consumer prices jump most since 2009, beat estimates

US consumer prices climbed in April by the most since 2009, topping forecasts and intensifying the already-heated debate about how long inflationary pressures will last.
 

The consumer price index increased 0.8 per cent from the prior month, reflecting gains in nearly every major category and a sign burgeoning demand is giving companies latitude to pass on higher costs.
 

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the so-called core CPI rose 0.9 per cent from March, according to Labor Department data Wednesday. The surge in the core measure was the largest since 1982.
 

The median forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of