WASHINGTON : US consumer prices dropped by the most since the Great Recession in April, weighed down by a plunge in demand for gasoline and services including airline travel as Americans stayed home during the coronavirus crisis.
The report from the Labor Department on Tuesday also showed a record decrease in underlying prices last month, raising the specter of a bout of deflation as the economy sinks deeper into a recession triggered by lockdowns to slow the spread of covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.
The government reported last Friday that the economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April, the deepest drop since the Great Depression.