Daily Roundup of Key US Economic Data for May 12

02:10 PM EDT, 05/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The consumer price index rose by 0.6% in April after a 0.9% gain in the previous month and was up 0.4% excluding food and energy prices after a 0.2% gain.

The gain lifted the year-over-year increase to 3.8% from 3.3% in March, while the core measure was up 2.8% year-over-year after a 2.6% rate in the previous month.

Food prices rose by 0.5%, while energy prices increased by 3.8%. Gasoline prices alone were up 5.4%.

Owners' equivalent rents rose by 0.5% and regular rents were also up 0.5%, both faster than in the previous month and accounting for about one-third of the overall gain.

In addition, prices of new vehicles fell by 0.2% after a 0.1% gain in the previous month and used vehicle prices held steady after a 0.4% decline.

The National Federation of Independent Business' monthly sentiment index rose to 95.9 in April from 95.8 in March, with gains in seven of the 10 components, particularly the earnings trend.

"Inflationary pressures continue to be a challenge for Main Street," said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. "While small business optimism is currently fragile, the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cut Act should start to feed into the private sector over the next few months."

The US Treasury reported a $215.02 billion budget surplus in April, smaller than the $258.40 billion deficit reported in April 2025. The fiscal year-to-date gap narrowed to $953.56 billion from $1.049 trillion.

Redbook reported that US same-store retail sales were up 9.6% year-over-year in the week ended May 9, stronger than a 7.8% gain in the prior week due to seasonal sales and Mother's Day spending.

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