June 20, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Third drop in a row for consumer durables prices

In 1999, prices paid by consumers for durable commodities dropped for the third straight year.

Annual change in the Consumer Price Index for durables and nondurables, 1997-99
[Chart data—TXT]

Prices for consumer durables dropped by 1.2 percent in 1999. They had fallen by 0.5 percent in 1998 and by 1.5 percent in 1997. The 1997 decline was the first for consumer durables since 1965.

Examples of consumer durables are furniture, televisions, new vehicles, and motor vehicle parts. Furniture prices decreased by 1.3 percent and television prices by 7.3 percent last year. Prices of new vehicles were down by 0.3 percent and prices of motor vehicle parts by 0.4 percent.

These data are produced by the BLS Consumer Price Index program. More information on consumer price changes can be found in "Core consumer prices in 1999: low by historical standards," by Todd Wilson, Monthly Labor Review, April 2000. Annual percent changes are December-to-December changes.