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February 22, 2001
Consumer Price Index Rose More Than Expected
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Energy prices soared in January, rising 3.9 percent and accounting for more than half of the overall increase. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the January jump was the largest monthly advance since a 0.6 percent rise in March 2000. The CPI rose 0.2 percent in December. For the 12-month period ended in January, the CPI increased 3.7 percent.
Reuters reported that the numbers caught analysts by surprise yesterday. "The CPI report is a lot worse than we were expecting. With the core being up three-tenths and the headline being up six-tenths, it's definitely going to get the Federal Reserve looking at inflation again," said Drew Matus, economist at Lehman Brothers in New York. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet again in a month.
The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a market basket of goods and services. The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics prepares the measure on a monthly basis.
Links
Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site
Federal Reserve Web site
2-22-01