Wall Street liked America's April consumer inflation numbers, even though there was little in the Wednesday report to ease the pressure on Main Street wallets.

The Labor Department said that the Consumer Price Index jumped 0.2%, a bit less than the 0.3% gain economists had expected. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, was up by 0.1%, also slower than general expectations for 0.2%.

Year-over-year consumer prices rose more modestly than forecast. Overall prices advanced 3.9% from April a year ago, and core prices were up 2.3%. Analysts were expecting a 4.0% advance in overall prices and an annual rise of 2.4%.

The Labor Department 's Consumer Price Index, the federal government's primary inflation yardstick, measures the prices of a mix of consumer goods and services such as transportation, energy, food and medical care.

Numbers aside, "better-than-expected" was all Wall Street wanted to hear. Stocks traded modestly higher late in the day and interest rates held steady in the bond market, with the 10-year Treasury issue yielding an unchanged 3.91%..

Len Blum, managing director of Westwood Capital, argued it would be difficult for an inflationary picture to develop because of the weak economic environment. Workers in many industries cannot push their wages much higher because their employers can easily shift production overseas.

Instead Blum was firmly focused on the continued economic slowdown. "We're a consumer driven economy but consumer can't borrow as they historically have with their homes," Blum said. "They're getting pressured with gas and food prices, and with earnings lowering, consumers are going to slow spending."

Blum observed that the 0.9% spike in food prices in April probably dampened the core CPI figure because consumers simply didn't have the cash to pay for nonfood items .

Last month's figures weren't the runaway disaster many had feared, but that only shows how rough things have become, as the U.S. economy deals with the twin problems of inflation and a slowdown. (See: "CPI Shows Inflation Is Still Chugging") In particular, energy prices have spiked by 15.9% over the past year, and food prices have gone up 5.1%.

U.S. mortgage application volume rose 2.9% during the week ending May 9, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly application survey. The MBA's application index increased to 674.4 during the week, compared with 655.4 one week earlier.