April 2026 CPI printed 3.8% — every forecaster graded

The April 2026 Consumer Price Index printed 3.8% year over year on May 12, 2026 (prior 3.3%, Street consensus 3.7%, surprise +0.10pp). Closest on the headline: Street consensus. Nowflation’s sealed forecast was not on the record for this print. Core CPI 2.8% (consensus 2.7%, prior 2.6%; closest Street consensus). Headline MoM 0.6% vs 0.6% expected.

Headline CPI YoY: printed 3.8%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed3.56%3.8%−0.235pp
Street consensus (closest)3.7%3.8%−0.100pp

Core CPI YoY: printed 2.8%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed2.56%2.8%−0.244pp
Street consensus (closest)2.7%2.8%−0.100pp

Headline CPI MoM: printed 0.6%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed0.45%0.6%−0.152pp
Street consensus (closest)0.6%0.6%0.000pp

Core CPI MoM: printed 0.4%

ForecasterCallPrintedMiss
Cleveland Fed0.21%0.4%−0.186pp
Street consensus (closest)0.3%0.4%−0.100pp

no pre-registration receipt for this print (receipts began June 2026) — values are the scoreboard rows frozen at grading time. Receipts on the record.

The Gauge stepping

The Gauge read 3.92% on the eve of the print and 3.97% the day after (+0.050pp), its gap to the printed number moving from +0.12pp to +0.17pp; the CPI Tracker 3.96% → 4.09%. The Gauge is a measurement of today, not a call on the print: on release day the components that hold an official subindex step to the new print while the live components keep moving.

Method

Before the print: every call as it stands on the tape, sealed into the receipt the evening before release (SHA-256 of the receipt JSON with its sha256 field removed). After the print: the scoreboard rows frozen at grading time — later revisions by any source never touch them. Graded against the BLS first release (YoY on the NSA index, MoM seasonally adjusted, one decimal). Signed error = forecast − actual.

Scoreboard · April 2026 preview · compare the forecasters · print day, live · dashboard.