January 17, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Consumer prices in December

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.1 percent in December, the same as in November.

[Chart data—TXT]

The index for food rose 0.3 percent in December, with prices for food at home up 0.3 percent. Energy costs declined for the second consecutive month—down 0.4 percent in December. Within energy, the index for petroleum-based energy declined 1.4 percent while the index for energy services increased 0.5 percent. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.1 percent, following increases of 0.2 percent in the preceding two months.

For the 12-month period ended in December, the CPI-U rose 2.4 percent. This compares with an increase of 1.6 percent in all of 2001.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program.  Find out more in "Consumer Price Indexes, December 2002" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-15.