March 22, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.) Consumer prices rise 0.3 percent in FebruaryOn a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent in February, following a 0.6 percent rise in January. The energy index, which rose 3.9 percent in January and accounted for over one-half of the overall January CPI-U increase, declined 0.2 percent in February. The index for energy services fell 1.0 percent, largely as a result of a downturn in the index for utility natural gas—down 2.4 percent after increasing 17.4 percent in January. The index for petroleum-based energy rose 0.7 percent in February. The food index, which rose 0.3 percent in January, increased 0.5 percent in February, reflecting a sharp turnaround in the index for fruits and vegetables. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.3 percent in February, the same as in January. For the 12-month period ended in February, the CPI-U increased 3.5 percent. These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Price Index program. Find out more in Consumer Price Indexes, February 2001, news release USDL 01-68. Happy 10th Birthday, TED!The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far. |
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