July 15, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

CPI unchanged in June 2005

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in June, following a decrease of 0.1 percent in May.

[Chart data—TXT]

Energy costs declined for the second consecutive month--down 0.5 percent in June. Within energy, the index for petroleum-based energy decreased 0.8 percent and the index for energy services decreased 0.2 percent. 

The index for food rose 0.1 percent, as a 0.3-percent increase in the index for food away from home more than offset a 0.3-percent decline in the index for food at home. 

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1 percent in June, the same as in May. An upturn in shelter costs was offset by declines or smaller increases in most other non-food and non-energy indexes.

Consumer prices increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1.9 percent in the second quarter after advancing at a 4.3-percent rate in the first three months of 2005. This brings the year-to-date annual rate to 3.1 percent and compares with an increase of 3.3 percent in all of 2004.

For the 12 months ended in June 2005, the CPI-U rose 2.5 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. For more information, see "Consumer Price Index: June 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1292.