By Tom Burnett CFA
On September 13, 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released consumer price information for the month of August. The CPI rose 0.1% in August after being unchanged in July (all data taken from the BLS press release). Over the past 12 months, the Index rose 8.3%, down from 8.5% in the year ended in July. In August, price increases for food, shelter and medical care were offset by a 10.6% decline in the price of gasoline. So far in 2022, the highest monthly increases were the 1.2% reported for March and the 1.3% reported for June. The average monthly increase for 2022 is 0.66%.
In August, the Core (excluding food and energy) Index rose 0.6%, after an increase of 0.3% in July. The year-over-year rate was 6.3%, compared to a 12-month rate of 5.9% in July.
The Energy Index rose 23.8% in the year ending in August, down from 32.9% in July. The Food Index increased 11.4% over the past year, the largest 12-month increase since May 1979.
The next CPI report will be released on October 13, 2022.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research