Tuesday, February 13, 2024

The Seasonally Adjusted CPI Was up 0.3% in January

See Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) compiled by the Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for data on the seasonally adjusted CPI.

That site shows a graph but if you click on the Download button you will get the actual numbers in Microsoft Excel.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average (CPIAUCSL) was 309.685 in Jan. after being 308.742 in Dec. Since 309.685/308.742 = 1.003, that means it was up 0.3% in Dec. If we had that every month for 12 months it would be up 3.7%.

It was 300.356 in Jan. 2023. Since 309.685/300.356 = 1.031, that means it was up 3.1% over the last 12 months.

The non-seasonally adjusted CPI was 308.417 in Jan. and 299.170 in Jan. 2023. That was up 3.09%. So pretty close to the seasonally adjusted CPI. This is still above the Fed's target of 2.0% (although they prefer to use the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index which 2.6% higher in Dec. 2023 than Dec. 2022).  

For more information, see Prices rose more than expected in January as inflation won’t go away by Jeff Cox of CNBC. Excerpts:

"Inflation rose more than expected in January as stubbornly high shelter prices weighed on consumers, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of the prices shoppers face for goods and services across the economy, increased 0.3% for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a 12-month basis, that came out to 3.1%, down from 3.4% in December.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a monthly increase of 0.2% and an annual gain of 2.9%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI accelerated 0.4% in January and was up 3.9% from a year ago, unchanged from December. The forecast had been for 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively."

"Generally, the inflation data had been encouraging, even if annual rates remain well above the Fed’s 2% target. Moreover, core inflation, which officials believe is a better guide of long-run trends, has been even more stubborn as housing costs have held higher than anticipated."

The article also discusses what is going up and what is going on. There is a graph of the monthly year-over-year percent change in prices and core prices going back almost 3 years.

Other related links:

Consumer Price Index Data from 1913 to 2023

Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics makes seasonal adjustments. See Consumer Price Index Summary.

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