The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Annual Inflation Rate data for the year ending in June on July 14th 2017. Annual inflation was 1.63% in June - down from 1.87% in May, 2.20% in April, 2.38% in March, 2.74% in February, and 2.50% in January. June CPI-U 244.955-- May CPI-U 244.733 Monthly Inflation for June 0.09%, May 0.09%, April was 0.30%, March was 0.08%, February was 0.31% and 0.58% in January. Next release August 11th Annual Inflation Chart Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in June 2017 was 1.63% down from 1.87% in May, 2.20% in April, 2.38% in March, 2.74% in February and 2.50% in January. The annual cyclical low was 0.84% in July 2016. The … [Read more...]
CPI Reaches All-Time High
BLS Releases April Inflation Data The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the inflation data for the year ending in April on May 17th, 2016. The Annual Inflation Rate was 1.13% up from 0.85% last month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) reached an all-time high of 239.261. Normally, this wouldn't be news since for years it made a new high almost every month. But after peaking at 238.316 last August (2015) the index fell to 236.525 by December and took 8 months (until April) to climb above August's level. Interestingly, in September 2014 the index was 238.031. So it has taken 19 months for overall prices to exceed the level first attained in September 2014. This doesn't … [Read more...]
Inflation Picks Up in December
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published their current inflation (CPI-U) report for the month of December on January 20th. The Consumer Price Index was 236.525 down from 237.336 in November. With the index going down you would think that we would have deflation but because when we say inflation or deflation we are talking about annual inflation/deflation we need to compare the index to the index from a year previous. Since the CPI-U for December 2014 was 234.812 and the current index is higher, we had annual inflation of 0.73%. According to the BLS, over the last 12 months Energy Prices have fallen -12.6%. Specifically, Gasoline is down -19.7%, Fuel Oil is down -31.4% and … [Read more...]
Inflation UP, CPI Down for November
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their inflation numbers for the year ending November 30th on December 15, 2015. The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for November was 237.336 down from 237.838 at the end of October so overall prices declined -0.21% over the month but Annual Inflation was still up 0.50% (or ½%) for the year. This is the 4th month in a row where prices are lower than the previous month. In the table below we can see that last November the CPI was at 236.151. Then prices fell through January peaked in July and then fell to current levels. Month CPI-U Index Monthly Inflation Annual … [Read more...]
Deflation Returns in September
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their inflation numbers for the year ending September 30th on October 15, 2015. Monthly inflation was negative (disinflationary) for the second month in a row resulting in annual deflation of -0.04%. Although at this level the deflation is so slight that the BLS rounds it to Zero. So basically prices are on par with those of a year ago. However, that doesn't mean that all prices are identical to those of a year ago. In the report issued by the BLS yesterday we note that food prices are up 1.4% over a year ago while energy prices are down -18.4%. and all other items excluding food and energy are up 1.9% so we see that the primary cause of the … [Read more...]
Inflation Rises — But no one notices?
In October 2006 the annual inflation rate (CPI-U) was 1.31% and it was 50% higher at 1.97% in November. Yet on the same day the data was released Yahoo Financial News reported in an article entitled "Stocks Rise on Inflation Data"that Inflation was flat. Their exact words were "The Labor Department said consumer prices were flat in November rather than up 0.2 percent as analysts had expected. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, was also unchanged." How can a 50% increase in the inflation rate be considered "flat"? … [Read more...]
