WASHINGTON — The cost of gas, food and most other goods and services jumped in May, pushing inflation to a four-decade high and offering Americans no respite.
Consumer prices surged 8.6% last month from a year earlier, faster than April’s year-over-year increase of 8.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. The new inflation figure, the biggest increase since December 1981, heightens pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates aggressively.
