The average cost of a market basket of goods and services in the United States increased 0.3 percent in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI). The October CPI level was 216.39, a decrease of 0.2 percent over the year.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.3 percent, after increasing 0.2 percent in September. The surge in inflation was largely in the indices for used motor vehicles (+3.4 percent), new motor vehicles (+1.6 percent) and energy (+1.5 percent). The indices for food stayed the same while the index for food away from home increased (+0.1 percent) in October. The energy index rose (+1.5 percent) for the most part because of soaring gasoline (+1.6 percent), fuel oil (+6.3 percent) and natural gas (+1.9 percent) indices. The energy index has declined 14 percent over the year with the gasoline index fell 17.9 percent.
The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 0.2 percent in October after increasing by the same amount in September. Over-the-year core inflation in October was 1.7 percent. Over 90 percent of the increase in the index was due to the index for new vehicles and used cars and trucks.
The food index surged (+0.1 percent) after declining 0.1 percent in September while the food at home index remained unchanged. Over the past year, while the food index declined 0.6 percent, the food at home index declined 2.8 percent.
The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation fares, doctors’ and dentists’ services, prescription drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day activities. Prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country (including Kansas City and St. Louis) from about 50,000 housing units and approximately 23,000 stores, hospitals and other types of service establishments.
The actual index is expressed as a number derived by comparing the current cost of goods and services to the cost of the same items between 1982 and 1984. The reference year is assigned a value of 100. Subsequent indices are expressed as a percentage of the base year.
