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(CNN Business) --
US inflation took a breather last month for the first time since August.
Prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace than in previous months.
The Consumer Price Index rose 8.3% in the 12 months ending in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday, slightly more than economists had forecast.
This is down from 8.5% in March, which had been the highest level in more than 40 years.
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If the most volatile product categories, such as food and energy, are excluded, the CPI stood at 6.2% in the same period.
In April alone, prices rose 0.3%, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, less than the 1.2% jump recorded in March.
Excluding food and energy prices, inflation rose 0.6%, more than the previous month's 0.3% advance.
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Wednesday's data suggests that the peak of inflation is behind us, just as economists, the Federal Reserve, the White House and the public expected.
But there are still plenty of factors that will keep prices high through the summer.
The war in Ukraine has put pressure on energy and food prices.
Meanwhile, new Covid-19-related lockdowns in China threaten to exacerbate supply chain problems the world has been grappling with for the past year.
This means that it is not certain that the rate of inflation can be reduced until these problems are resolved.
On top of that, inflation has shifted from goods to services as well as it spreads across different sectors of the economy.
In this framework, it is no longer limited to categories that have been explicitly affected by the pandemic or geopolitical events, such as used cars or gasoline.
That could mean it will be more difficult to put a stop to high prices when both factors disappear.
"The peak of inflation may be behind us, but today's CPI report points to a long, slow decline or even plateau around 8% until prices start to decline significantly," said Robert Frick. , corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, in an emailed comment.
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April price increases were especially marked in housing, food, airline tickets and new cars.
Food prices rose 0.9% last month and 9.4% over a year, the biggest rise since April 1981. Grocery store prices rose 10.8% in the year ending in April, the largest increase since November 1980.
However, energy prices fell in April, in line with the decline in gasoline prices from their peak in March.
In the 12-month period, energy prices soared 30.3%.
In May, however, gasoline prices rose again, so this part of the CPI could worsen again in next month's data.
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Housing costs, which are made up of rents and the equivalent of owners' income for people who own their homes, rose 0.5% in April for the third month in a row.
In one year the cost of housing has risen by 5.1%.
Because rents change infrequently, the Department of Labor collects rent data for each apartment or house in the sample only every six months.
Economists have been concerned about rising housing costs, which are likely to continue after other price spikes pass.
Inflation
