Falling energy prices helped slow inflation

Easing energy prices helped pull U.S. inflation under 5% for the first time in almost two years.

State of play: The Consumer Price Index was up 4.98% in March, compared to the prior year.

• The energy component of the CPI was actually down 6.4% compared to last year, driven by a 17.4% tumble in gasoline prices and a 14.2% dive in fuel oil.

Yes, but: Some of the relief coming from lower energy prices may soon be reversed, following OPEC and Russia's recently announced plans to prop prices up by cutting production, wrote Paul Ashworth, chief North American economist at Capital Economics, in a note Wednesday.

The bottom line: Prices for crude oil — which feed into prices for consumer products like gasoline — were down about 25% from the end of 2022 before the April 2 announcement by OPEC+.

• They're up more than 10% since the production cuts were unveiled.