The May consumer price index was up 0.6%, while the core rate climbed 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to figures released Friday by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-over-year CPI gained 4.2%, while the core was 2.3% higher than 12 months ago, BLS said. The May figures follow an increase of 0.2% in CPI in April and 0.1% in the core. Economists polled by IFR Markets expected CPI to rise 0.5%, the core to gain 0.2%, and the year-over-year CPI rate to be up 3.9%, with the core up 2.3%. The index for energy, which was virtually unchanged in April, increased 4.4% in May, its biggest increase since November. The index for petroleum-based energy advanced 5.8% and the index for energy services rose 2.3%, according to BLS. The food index rose 0.3% in May. The index for food at home, which advanced 1.5% in April, also increased 0.3%, as five of the six major grocery-store food groups registered substantial deceleration. Upturns in the indexes for lodging away from home, for public transportation, and for household furnishings and operations more than offset a downturn in the index for apparel. During the first five months of 2008, the CPI-U rose at a 4.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate. This compares with an increase of 4.1% for all of 2007, the BLS reported. The index for energy advanced at a 16.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first five months of 2008 after advancing 17.4% in all of 2007. Petroleum-based energy costs increased at a 13.9% annual rate and charges for energy services rose at a 20.3% annual rate. The food index has increased at a 6.3% SAAR thus far this year, following a 4.9% rise for all of 2007. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U advanced at a 2.0% SAAR in the first five months, following a 2.4% rise for all of 2007. Seasonal factors, which have muted some heavily weighted categories — including gasoline and airfares — in the overall headline number are turning adverse for the rest of the year, a senior Bureau of Labor Statistics analyst said Friday.
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Inflows returned to muni mutual funds as investors added $200.3 million for the week ending Wednesday after $1.474 billion of outflows, according to LSEG Lipper.
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Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly nixed another tax cut bill passed by the Republican-led legislature this year, while pushing a less-costly plan.
April 25 -
It's a big week for the Fortress-backed train company, which refinanced more than $4 billion of debt and broke ground on its West Coast high-speed line.
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Photos from The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance conference.
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The Mayo Clinic is undertaking a $5 billion expansion that may bring new debt as it reconstructs its core Rochester, Minnesota campus.
April 25 -
"Just like the ATM became an additional transaction channel in the banking industry, I believe distributed ledger technology will provide municipal issuers with a similarly valued tool to sell their bonds," said Rick Coscia, Quincy's Strategic Asset Manager.
April 25