Price increases in the US ease slightly in April

The pace of price increases in the US eased slightly last month, as costs for petrol, used cars and clothing slipped.

The annual pace of inflation was 8.3% in April, down from 8.5% in the prior month, the Labor Department said.

That marked the first decline in months, but the rate of price increases remained at multi-decade highs.

The cost of groceries, housing and items like airline tickets continued to rise, putting pressure on policymakers to rein in the increases.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday addressed the issue in a speech, saying that bringing down inflation was his "top domestic priority".

The US central bank earlier this month announced its biggest interest rate rise in 22 years, hiking by half a percentage point in an effort to tackle the issue.

Analysts said they had expected the report to show a bigger slowdown in price acceleration.

"Underlying inflation pressures are stronger than we had expected," said Andrew Hunter, senior US economist for Capital Economics.