CPI for all items rises 0.3% in April as gasoline, shelter indexes increase

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

CPI for all items rises 0.3% in April as gasoline, shelter indexes increase

Economic News Release USDL-19-0776

Consumer Price Index Summary

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) May 10, 2019

Technical information: [phone] [e-mail] www.bls.gov/cpi
Media Contact: [phone] [e-mail]

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX - APRIL 2019

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.4 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.0 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The gasoline index continued to increase, rising 5.7 percent and accounting for over two-thirds of the seasonally adjusted all items monthly increase. The index for energy rose 2.9 percent, although the index for natural gas declined and the index for electricity was unchanged. The food index fell in April, its first monthly decline since June 2017.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1 percent for the third consecutive month. The indexes for shelter, medical care, education, and new vehicles all rose in April. The indexes for used cars and trucks, apparel, and household furnishings and operations were among those that declined over the month.

The all items index increased 2.0 percent for the 12 months ending April, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending November 2018. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.1 percent over the last 12 months, and the food index rose 1.8 percent. The energy index increased 1.7 percent over the past year after posting 12-month declines the past 4 months.
....

Contact Information

For additional information about the CPI visit www.bls.gov/cpi or contact the CPI Information and Analysis Section at 202-691-7000 or [e-mail].

For additional information on seasonal adjustment in the CPI visit www.bls.gov/cpi/seasonal-adjustment/home.htm or contact the CPI seasonal adjustment section at 202-691-6968 or [e-mail].

Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: [phone]; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

Read more: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

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There is a ton of fine print at the linked site.

[CountAllVotes]

1. Thank you!

Inflation is on the rise whether dump cares to admit it or not.

Cannot hide the $4.35/gallon gasoline can you dump?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. And now for some fine print: not all CPI's are alike.

From BLS Report: CPI-U for all items rises 0.1% in June as shelter, gasoline, food indexes increase

and

CPI for all items falls 0.1% in December as energy and food indexes decline:

Not all CPI's are alike. For an earlier discussion at DU about that, see:

CPI for all items rises 0.2% as gasoline and shelter prices rise; food prices decline

From the zeroeth post:

I added the bolding.

Cryptoad points out the significance of the CPI-W. It is used to calculate Social Security's Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA):

Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2013 through the third quarter of 2014, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.7 percent COLA for 2015.

Consumer Price Index Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What goods and services does the CPI cover?

The CPI represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population (U or W) BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each are as follows:
FOOD AND BEVERAGES (breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, full service meals, snacks)
HOUSING (rent of primary residence, owners' equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture)
APPAREL (men's shirts and sweaters, women's dresses, jewelry)
TRANSPORTATION (new vehicles, airline fares, gasoline, motor vehicle insurance)
MEDICAL CARE (prescription drugs and medical supplies, physicians' services, eyeglasses and eye care, hospital services)
RECREATION (televisions, toys, pets and pet products, sports equipment, admissions);
EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (college tuition, postage, telephone services, computer software and accessories);
OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses).

The CPI-U is used by the Treasury Department to set the interest rates on I Bonds.

I Savings Bonds

How do I Bonds earn interest?

Interest on an I Bond rates is a combination of two rates:
1.A fixed rate of return which remains the same throughout the life of the I Bond

and
2.A variable inflation rate which we calculate twice a year, based on changes in the nonseasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for all items, including food and energy (CPI-U for March compared with the CPI-U for September of the same year, and then CPI-U for September compared with the CPI-U for March of the following year).

In specific, there is a discussion of the Cost of Living Index here:

Let's look at that.

The CPI-W is discussed here:

CPI-W methodology

- - - - -

Note that there is a:

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)

Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)

Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)

The fine print goes into the distinction.

Here's the thread from three months ago about the March CPI:

CPI for all items rises 0.2% as gasoline and shelter prices rise; food prices decline

Cryptoad points out the significance of the CPI-W. It is used to calculate Social Security's Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA):

Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2013 through the third quarter of 2014, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.7 percent COLA for 2015.

Consumer Price Index Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What goods and services does the CPI cover?

The CPI represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population (U or W) BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each are as follows:
FOOD AND BEVERAGES (breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, full service meals, snacks)
HOUSING (rent of primary residence, owners' equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture)
APPAREL (men's shirts and sweaters, women's dresses, jewelry)
TRANSPORTATION (new vehicles, airline fares, gasoline, motor vehicle insurance)
MEDICAL CARE (prescription drugs and medical supplies, physicians' services, eyeglasses and eye care, hospital services)
RECREATION (televisions, toys, pets and pet products, sports equipment, admissions);
EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (college tuition, postage, telephone services, computer software and accessories);
OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses).

The CPI-U is used by the Treasury Department to set the interest rates on I Bonds.

I Savings Bonds

How do I Bonds earn interest?

Interest on an I Bond rates is a combination of two rates:
1.A fixed rate of return which remains the same throughout the life of the I Bond

and
2.A variable inflation rate which we calculate twice a year, based on changes in the nonseasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for all items, including food and energy (CPI-U for March compared with the CPI-U for September of the same year, and then CPI-U for September compared with the CPI-U for March of the following year).

[progree]

3. Inflation-adjusted hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers

In 1982-1984 dollars

Monthly values, Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.
2016: 9.18 9.23 9.22 9.21 9.20 9.19 9.21 9.21 9.20 9.21 9.21 9.19
2017: 9.17 9.19 9.21 9.22 9.24 9.26 9.27 9.24 9.23 9.22 9.21 9.22
2018: 9.20 9.20 9.23 9.24 9.24 9.24 9.24 9.27 9.29 9.27 9.32 9.37
2019: 9.39 9.39 9.38 9.37

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000032
There's a graph at the link

Looks like a bit of a dip from the start of the year

[BigmanPigman]

4. I have noticed it in food and gas.

The cashier at my market said the prices for food will increase more next week with new taxes on goods from Mexico.

[durablend]

5. Fluffy and Fido are gonna be feeling it for sure.

[IronLionZion]

6. Maybe they'll solve this problem with more tariffs

so that we can pay more for Chinese imports, which are in everything.