Summary
Earlier today, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 0.4% during February, led by a 2.0% (nonannualized) increase in energy prices. Excluding food and energy, the CPI was up 0.3% last month. Both numbers were higher than the consensus forecast.
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Per today's report from the Labor Department, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% during January. This was higher than a consensus forecast looking for a gain of 0.3%, and it resulted in a year-over-year increase of 2.9%. During the 12-month period ended February 2004, the CPI rose 1.7%.
The February gain was led by a 2.0% (nonannualized) increase in energy prices. Elsewhere, the transportation component rose a reported 0.8%, medical care was up 0.6%, housing rose 0.4%, education advanced 0.3%, food was up 0.1%, while the apparel and recreation components each recorded 0.2% declines.
Excluding food and energy, or the so-called "core" rate, the CPI rose 0.3% in February. This also was higher than the consensus forecast, which was predicting a gain of 0.2%. For the 12 months ended February, core CPI rose 2.3%. During the 12-month period ended February 2004, core CPI was up 1.2%.
The following table includes the most recent data for three of the four measures we use in our "Inflation Watch" chart, found on the GRA website's home page. The table below it breaks out CPI data for the five years ended 12/31/04.
Consumer Producer Import
Price Index Price Index Prices
Month/ ---------------------------------------
Year Y/Y L3Mos* Y/Y L3Mos* Y/Y L3Mos*
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02/05 2.9% 1.7% 4.7% 1.3% 6.1% 0.0%
01/05 2.9% 1.3% 4.2% 2.1% 5.8% -4.1%
12/04 3.4% 3.4% 4.3% 7.2% 6.7% -0.4%
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*Trailing three-month com-
pound annual rate of change.
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Consumer Price Index
(All Urban,
All Items)
-- Y/Y Change
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Excl. Food
Year All Items & Energy
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2004 3.4% 2.2%
2003 1.9% 1.1%
2002 2.4% 2.0%
2001 1.5% 2.7%
2000 3.4% 2.6%
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NOTE: The latest CPI data will be posted to the "Data & Charts" section of the GRA website.
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