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Surging prices: Key inflation metric just hit a 29-year high

New York (CNN Business)Inflation seems unstoppable as the economy returns to normal.

People are spending big again, with battered industries like travel and hospitality coming back to life. That has sent prices surging.

A key measure of inflation, after stripping out more volatile food and energy prices, jumped to a 29-year high in April. The Bureau of Economic Analysis' price index tracking US consumer spending rose 3.6% in the year ending April, its biggest jump since September 2008 -- the height of the financial crisis. Excluding food and energy prices, the index gained 3.1%, the biggest increase since July 1992.

Inflation has been the boogeyman overshadowing the recovery.

Some economists are concerned that extreme price increases could keep consumers from spending, and investors worry that a prolonged inflation spike could force the end of the Federal Reserve's easy money policies.

Price increases are showing no signs of letting up. The University of Michigan's May consumer sentiment survey found that "record proportions of consumers reported higher prices across a wide range of discretionary purchases, including homes, vehicles, and household durables," according to the survey's chief economist, Richard Curtin.