U.S. consumer prices edge up in April

U.S. consumer prices edged up in April, led by the increase in all items excluding food and energy, the Labor Department said on Friday.

Consumer Price Index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, edged up 0.1 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, following a 0.2 percent increase in March and rising for the third consecutive month.

On a year-on-year basis, the index decreased 0.2 percent before seasonal adjustment, driven by the fall in the energy index.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the so-called core CPI rose 0.3 percent in April, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier, and led to the slight increase in the seasonally adjusted all items index.

Both the headline CPI and the core number were below the Federal Reserve's inflation target of 2 percent, delaying the need for more restrictive monetary policy.

The recently released Fed policy meeting minutes showed many Fed officials didn't expect to raise interest rate in June as they believed the data available in June would not provide sufficient confirmation that the economic conditions warrant the liftoff.

Following the release of the minutes, the market widely sees September or even later as the most likely time for a Fed rate increase.

The Fed has kept its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero since December 2008. Endi