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

Consumer prices up in June

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.2 percent in June after registering no change in May.

[Chart data—TXT]

Energy costs, which declined substantially in April and May after recording sharp increases in each of the first three month of the year, increased 0.8 percent in June. Within energy, the index for petroleum-based energy increased 1.1 percent and the index for energy services increased 0.7 percent.

The index for food rose 0.4 percent with the index for food at home up 0.7 percent. The index for all items less food and energy, which increased 0.3 percent in May, was unchanged in June.

Consumer prices decreased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 0.7 percent in the second quarter after advancing at a 5.2 percent rate in the first three months of 2003. This brings the year-to-date annual rate to 2.2 percent and compares with an increase of 2.4 percent in all of 2002.

For the 12-month period ended in June, the CPI-U rose 2.1 percent.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. Find out more in Consumer Price Index: June 2003 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-377.