May 16, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.) Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in AprilOn a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.5 percent in April, following a 0.3-percent increase in March. The energy index advanced sharply for the second consecutive month—up 4.5 percent in April. The index for petroleum-based energy increased 9.4 percent, while the index for energy services was unchanged. The food index rose 0.1 percent in April. Grocery store food prices were unchanged after increasing 0.2 percent in each of the preceding two months. Fruit and vegetable prices, which rose sharply in the first three months of 2002, declined 1.8 percent in April. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.3 percent in April after increasing 0.1 percent in March. For the 12-month period ended in April, the CPI-U increased 1.6 percent. These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Price Index program. Find out more in "Consumer Price Indexes, April 2002", news release USDL 02-289. 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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