June 18, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Consumer prices increase 0.4 percent in May
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4 percent in May, following a 0.3-percent increase in April.
![Percent change from 12 months ago, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, not seasonally adjusted, May 1992-May 2001](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921214716im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2001/June/wk3/art01.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
The energy index, which increased 1.8 percent in April, rose 3.1 percent in May, accounting for about two-thirds of the overall May CPI advance. The index for petroleum-based energy increased 5.6 percent and the index for energy services rose 0.6 percent. The food index increased 0.3 percent in May, following a 0.1-percent rise in April. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.1 percent in May, its smallest monthly increase since December 2000.
During the first five months of 2001, the CPI-U rose at a 4.0 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). This compares with an increase of 3.4 percent for all of 2000. The index for energy, which registered double-digit increases in both 1999 and 2000, continued this pattern during the first five months of 2001, increasing at a 16.3-percent
SAAR.
For the 12-month period ended in May 2001, the CPI-U increased 3.6 percent.
These data are a product of the BLS Consumer
Price Index program. Find out more in Consumer
Price Indexes, May 2001, news release USDL 01-175.
Of interest
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