July 22, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Consumer prices in June

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent in June after registering no change in May.

[Chart data—TXT]

The indexes for food and for energy, each of which declined in May, were both unchanged in June. An increase of 0.3 percent in the index for petroleum-based energy was offset by a 0.2-percent decline in the index for energy services. 

The index for food at home declined 0.2 percent as four of the six grocery store food groups registered declines. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.1 percent in June after increasing 0.2 percent in May. Smaller increases in the indexes for shelter and for medical care, coupled with declines in the indexes for recreation and for communication, more than offset a sharp upturn in the index for tobacco and smoking products.

Consumer prices increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 2.5 percent in the second quarter after advancing at a 3.0-percent rate in the first three months of 2002. This brings the year-to-date annual rate to 2.7 percent and compares with an increase of 1.6 percent in all of 2001.

The June CPI-U level of 179.9 was 1.1 percent higher than its level in June 2001.

These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Price Index program.  Find out more in "Consumer Price Indexes, June 2002", (PDF) (TXT) news release USDL 02-390.