Your Economy (No Politics)

[Bullwinkle]

U.S. March core CPI gain biggest in year -
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1:05:58 PM
http://www.afxpress.com


WASHINGTON (AFX) -- U.S. core consumer prices increased at the largest pace in a year, the Labor Department said Wednesday

The core consumer price index -- the measure of retail-level inflation that excludes food and energy prices -- increased 0.3% last month, matching a 0.3% gain in March 2005. Overall, consumer price inflation also picked up in March, rising 0.4%

The gains in both the consumer price index and in core prices were above Wall Street expectations

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the CPI to rise 0.3% in March, after rising by 0.1% in February. The core rate was expected to rise 0.2%, on the heels of rising 0.1% in the previous month. In the past 12 months, the CPI has risen 3.4%, down from a 3.6% annualized growth last month. The core CPI is up 2.1% over that time, near the top end of the Federal Reserve's presumed comfort zone for inflation

For the first quarter, core consumer prices were up 2.8%, after having risen 2.2% for all of 2005. About two-thirds of the acceleration came from higher prices for shelter, the department said

With the CPI up 0.4%, real or inflation-adjusted weekly earnings fell 0.3% in March, the Labor Department said in a separate report. In the past year, average weekly earnings have risen 3.7%. Energy prices rose 1.3% in March, completely reversing the decline in the previous month. Gasoline prices increased 3.6%, while electricity prices rose 0.5% Food prices rose 0.1%, moving up on higher prices for beef and poultry. Housing costs increased 0.2%. Lodging away from home increased 0.8%

Transportation costs increased 0.9%, on higher fuel costs. New car prices fell 0.1%, with airfares up 1.1%. Medical prices increased 0.4%. Physicians' services prices rose 0.5%, while drug prices moved up 0.6%

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