"If the trend we saw this month continues consistently for another two months, the Fed may finally have the confidence necessary for a rate cut in September," Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings wrote in a research note.

The Fed raised its benchmark rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023 in its drive to curb the worst streak of inflation in four decades. Inflation did cool substantially from its peak in 2022. Still, average prices remain far above where they were before the pandemic, a source of frustration for many Americans and a potential threat to President Joe Biden's re-election bid. Friday's data adds to signs, though, that inflation pressures are continuing to ease, though more slowly than they did last year.