EmailSigns of a soft economy are evident in the consumer price index for June, which came in unchanged from the preceding month. That was slightly less than the Briefing.com consensus forecast, which called for a 0.1% increase. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices were up 0.2% in June, matching expectations and marking the fourth consecutive 0.2% increase. On a year-over-year basis, CPI is up 1.7% (the same as seen in May but down from nearly 4.0% seen last September) while core-CPI is up 2.2% (down from 2.3% in May). These indications are not going to raise any alarm bells at the Federal Reserve when it comes to inflation concerns, although they will be food for policy thought given the disinflationary trend evident in both headline and core CPI.
Not surprisingly, the energy index (-1.4%) was the biggest drag on headline inflation, helping to offset a 0.2% increase in the food index. The increase in core CPI was paced by a 0.7% jump in medical care costs, which was the largest increase since 2010, and a 0.5% jump in apparel prices. Conversely, the shelter index saw its smallest increase (0.1%) since September while the index for used cars and trucks was unchanged after several increases.
