Annual inflation cooled last month to the lowest level since April 2021

It's been a two-year slog of enduring painfully high prices, but the light at the end of the tunnel just got slightly brighter for consumers.

Annual inflation continued its slow-but-steady deceleration in April, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released Wednesday.

The CPI climbed by 4.9% for the 12 months ended in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, representing a slightly slower pace of increase than the 5% in March. It was below economists' expectations for the number to remain unchanged.

It's the 10th consecutive month that the headline CPI rate has slowed, and it's at its lowest rate since April 2021 - when this bout of painfully high inflation started to spike.

Excluding food and energy costs, which tend to have more volatility, core CPI was unchanged at 5.5% for the 12 months ended in April.

On a monthly basis, both the headline and core indexes recorded increases of 0.4%, matching forecasts from economists, some of whom anticipated higher fuel and used car prices to provide some upward pressure.

"It's sticky and bumpy, but make no mistake, inflation is cooling," Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY, said in a statement.