May 17, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Consumer prices unchanged in April

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in April, following an increase of 0.7 percent in March. For the 12-month period ended in April, the unadjusted CPI-U increased 3.1 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

The energy index, which rose 4.9 percent in March, declined 1.9 percent in April, registering its first decrease since last June. The index for petroleum-based energy fell 4.1 percent, while the index for energy services rose 0.5 percent. The food index rose 0.1 percent in April, the same as in March.

Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.2 percent in April, following an increase of 0.4 percent in March. Shelter costs, which increased 0.5 percent in March, rose 0.2 percent in April, accounting for more than half of the April deceleration in the index for all items less food and energy. Also contributing to the smaller rise in April was the deceleration in the indexes for airline fares, for apparel, and for household furnishings and operations.

These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Price Index program.