Series I Savings Bond Inflation Component for May

With the March CPI-U released today it's possible to determine the I Bond inflation component for the next 6 months starting in May. Savings Bond Advisor has already done this:

The Series I bond inflation component is based on the difference between the March and September levels of the CPI-U. The next inflation component for I bonds will be 1.54%.

You might think this low inflation component would bode well for an increased fixed rate in May. However, as we saw last year, the inflation component doesn't seem to have any influence on the fixed rate. If it did, the fixed rate would have been much higher when the inflation component went negative last year.