The Labor Department says staffing shortages reduced its ability to conduct its massive monthly survey, forcing it to turn to less precise guesses.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday it has been collecting less data for its crucial consumer price index, the primary gauge of U.S. inflation, citing insufficient "resources." In an email this week to economists who had raised concerns about "quirks" in the April CPI report,

The ECB cut interest rates for the eighth time in the past year and signalled at least a pause in policy easing next month since inflation was now safely back at its 2% target after three years of overshooting.

Europe has succeeded in bringing inflation under control after a surge driven by the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of France’s central bank said.

The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its main interest rate again, citing slowing price rises. The widely anticipated move takes the ECB’s main rate to 2%, from 2.25% previously, and marks the eighth time the central bank has slashed borrowing costs since last June as inflation has tumbled from multi-decade highs.