May 19, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Consumer prices fall 0.3 percent from March to April

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.3 percent in April, following an increase of 0.3 percent in March.

[Chart data—TXT]

Energy costs, which rose 4.6 percent in March, declined 4.6 percent in April. Within energy, the index for petroleum-based energy declined 8.4 percent and the index for energy services decreased 0.5 percent.

The index for food fell 0.1 percent, following a 0.2 percent increase in March. The index for food at home declined 0.2 percent. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged for the second consecutive month in April after increasing 0.1 percent in both January and February.

For the 12-month period ended in April, the CPI-U rose 2.2 percent.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. Find out more in "Consumer Price Index: April 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL-03-242.