Excluding volatile food and energy prices, inflation is running lately at a 2.4 percent annual rate.

The core rate, which is the index without its more volatile food and energy items, rose just 0.2 percent, matching the market consensus.

The "core" rate, excluding volatile food and energy prices, posted a similar increase, again half of expectations.

They noted that even when the volatile food and energy components were excluded, the index advanced at a 5.2 percent rate in the first quarter.

The core index, which excluded the volatile food and energy sectors, was unchanged.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, prices rose by just two-tenths of 1 percent last month.

Without volatile food and energy costs, prices still rose 0.3 percent in the month.

She tied the price pressures to the volatile food and energy components.

For the year, the core inflation rate, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, was up only 2.6 percent.

Even when volatile food and energy costs were excluded, prices were unchanged.