Crisis causes biggest plunge since 2008

The economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus led in April to the steepest month-to-month fall in U.S. consumer prices since the 2008 financial crisis — a 0.8 percent drop that was driven by a plunge in gasoline prices. And excluding the normally volatile categories of food and energy, so-called core prices tumbled 0.4 percent last month, the Labor Department says Tuesday in its monthly report on consumer prices.