WASHINGTON – The consumer price index Consumer Price Index came in flat, as expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The flat reading overall was accompanied by a core rate that went up just 0.1%.
"Thousands and thousands of prices, and they're just not going up that much," Bureau of Labor Statistics senior analyst Steve Reed told Market News International exclusively during the data "lockup" prior to publication. "You're just not seeing a lot of price pressures."
The year-to-date annualized CPI was up just 0.8% for the first half through June and the core rate, annualized, was up 1.3%. For the full 12 months, the consumer inflation rate was up 1.6%, with the core rate up the same amount.
Reed pointed out that the recent acceleration in food prices month to month was annualizing out to be about the same as last year. Food was flat in June and food at home was down a tenth.
The main flywheel for CPI, the two rent measures, were both up a firm 0.3%. Vacation lodging dropped 1.9% in an offsetting move and overall shelter was up 0.2%.
Auto insurance kept up its march higher, up a full percent in June. Wireless services, cited in Thursday's testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as a transitory depressing factor, kept going down by a considerable amount, 0.8% in June.
