Grocery prices jumped in April

The prices that Americans paid for groceries jumped 2.6 percent in April even as the overall Consumer Product Index fell 0.8 percent for the month, according to the Labor Department. The price of meat, fish and eggs rose 4.3 percent, produce increased 1.5 percent, and cereal and dairy were up 1.5 percent. “In areas where demand has hung in, like ‘food at home,’ we have inflation because the supply side has been damaged, whether directly via infected facilities or because of the higher costs of finding freight capacity,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.