October 17, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

CPI up 1.2 percent in September 2005

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.2 percent in September.

[Chart data—TXT]

Energy costs increased sharply for the third consecutive month—up 12.0 percent in September—and accounted for over 90 percent of the advance in the September CPI-U. Within energy, the index for energy commodities (petroleum-based energy) increased 17.4 percent and the index for energy services (natural gas and electricity) rose 4.6 percent.

The index for food, which was unchanged in August, rose 0.3 percent in September, largely reflecting an upturn in the index for fruits and vegetables.

The index for all items less food and energy registered a 0.1-percent increase for the fifth consecutive month. Shelter costs, which were virtually unchanged in August, declined 0.1 percent in September, largely as a result of a 2.5-percent decrease in the index for lodging away from home.

Consumer prices increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 9.4 percent in the third quarter of 2005, following increases in the first and second quarters at annual rates of 4.3 and 1.9 percent, respectively. This brings the year-to-date annual rate to 5.1 percent and compares with an increase of 3.3 percent in all of 2004.

For the 12 months ended in September 2005, the CPI-U rose 4.7 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more about changes in consumer prices see "Consumer Price Index: September 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1970. Note: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had a very small effect on survey response rates in September. Response rates in those affected areas were lower than usual, but the missing prices accounted for less than 1 percent of the overall CPI sample.