WASHINGTON – The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) last month rose 0.5 percent to 203.499 (1982 = 100), 2.4 percent above its year-ago level, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
After seasonal adjustment, the CPI-U rose 0.4 percent – beating the 0.3 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 75 economists. The rise – led by increases in fuel, food and medical costs – leaves the Federal Reserve with little room to maneuver when it meets next week, Bloomberg said.
The core rate excluding food and energy rose 0.2 percent in February, at the same pace as the month before, to 2.7 percent above its year-ago level. The full CPI-U had advanced 0.2 percent in January after gaining 0.4 percent in December.
“Core inflation is still too high for the central bank’s liking,” Avery Shenfeld, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto, told Bloomberg. “The Fed won’t be thinking about cutting rates until we see both a deceleration in inflation and a downward shift in their perspective on the growth outlook.”
Meanwhile, American workers’ real average weekly earnings last month fell 0.3 percent from their January level, but rose 1.5 percent above their level in February 2006, the BLS said in a separate report.
Last month’s 0.3-percent decline in average weekly hours and a 0.4-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) were partially offset by a 0.4-percent rise in average hourly earnings.
Before adjustment for seasonal changes and inflation, weekly earnings averaged $574.81, compared with $553.76 a year earlier.
Additional information on the 19-page CPI report is available at www.bls.gov/cpi; information on the five-page Real Earnings report is available at www.bls.gov/ces.
