January 19, 2011 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
CPI increases 1.5 percent in 2010
Over the last 12 months, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.5 percent before seasonal adjustment. The rate of increase in the CPI slowed in 2010, as the December-to-December increase fell from 2.7 percent in 2009 to 1.5 percent in 2010.
[Chart data]
A deceleration in the gasoline index accounted for much of the slowdown, as it increased 13.8 percent in 2010 after rising 53.5 percent in 2009. The energy index as a whole, which rose 18.2 percent in 2009, increased 7.7 percent in 2010.
The index for all items less food and energy also decelerated in 2010. After rising 1.8 percent in both 2008 and 2009, the index increased 0.8 percent in 2010, the smallest December-to-December increase in the history of the index. The new vehicle index fell 0.2 percent in 2010 after rising 4.9 percent in 2009, and the index for apparel fell 1.1 percent in 2010 after rising 1.9 percent in 2009.
The food index turned up in 2010, rising 1.5 percent after declining 0.5 percent in 2009. The index for food away from home rose 1.3 percent; the food at home index increased 1.7 percent after declining 2.4 percent in 2009.
These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index — December 2010" (HTML) (PDF), USDL-11-0018.
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