Deflation Continues
02/26/2015
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) estimates, released this morning by the BLS, indicate that the CPI fell 0.7% in January. This marks the third consecutive month that the overall price level has fallen. In addition, this latest decline means that the CPI is now down for the twelve months ending in January. This decrease brings us down to the price level from December 2013.
A big part of the decrease can be attributed to falling gasoline prices. The core CPI, which excludes volatile items like food or gas, actually rose by 0.2% in January and by 1.6% within the last 12 months.
The table below lists changes a selected group of specific price categories along with their weight in the CPI. Since gas prices are about 4% of a typical consumer budget, they influence the overall price level more than other individual good prices.