Inflation rose 4.9% in April from a year ago, less than expectations

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Wed May 10, 2023, 09:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNBC

A widely followed measure of inflation rose in April, though the pace of the increase provided some hope that the cost of living will head lower later this year.

The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.4% for the month, in line with the Dow Jones estimate, according to a Labor Department report Wednesday.

However, that equated to an annual increase of 4.9%, slightly less than the 5% estimate. Excluding volatile food and energy categories, core CPI rose 0.4% monthly and 5.5% from a year ago both in line with expectations.

Increases in shelter, gasoline and used vehicles pushed the index higher, and were offset somewhat by declines in prices for fuel oil, new vehicles and food at home.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/10/cpi-inflation-april-2023.html

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From the source -

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CPI for all items rises 0.4% in April; shelter, used cars and trucks, and gasoline up https://bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
#CPI #BLSdata
8:30 AM · May 10, 2023

Link to report - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm


Article updated.

Previous article -

A widely followed measure of inflation rose in April, despite more than a year's worth of Federal Reserve interest rate increases.

The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.4% for the month, in line with the Dow Jones estimate.

However, that equated to an annual increase of 4.9%, slightly less than the 5% estimate.

Excluding volatile food and energy categories, core CPI rose 0.4% and 5.5% from a year ago both in line with expectations.


This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

Original article -

The consumer price index was expected to rise 0.4% in April, according to Dow Jones.

This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Wage Growth

Last Friday's jobs report showed that wages grew 4.4% year over year, meaning real inflation was 0.5% for the year.

[multigraincracker]

2. Lots of price gouging by big corporations.

In times like these we need an excess profit tax on big oil, food processors and others that are showing huge profits at the consumers expense. Why, because they can get away with it. Also ban Stock Buy Backs.

[IronLionZion]

3. People are still buying stuff

Fed wants us to buy less stuff.

People want living wages for work. GOP wants to pay people less and complain "nobody wants to work anymore". "Oh look, that foreigner is trying to steal your job". Or it's children these days since child labor is the news a lot lately.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. And they forget

that during the pandemic, there wasn't "much stuff" available to buy due to "supply chain issues". So people spent a couple years scrounging, trying to pay off debts (with stimulus payments), and rearranging their lives.

NOW they are ready to "buy"!

[progree]

5. Graphs. Links. Rolling 3 month averages

Last edited Wed May 10, 2023, 02:42 PM - Edit history (2)

CPI: . . . . April: +0.4% (March: +0.1%), 12 months: +4.9%
CORE CPI: April: +0.4% (March: +0.4%), 12 months: +5.5%

SOME 12 month changes: Energy: -5.1%, Food: +7.7%,

Rolling 3 month averages thru April, latest 6 values (annualized)
CPI: . . . . 4.5% 3.3% 3.5% 4.1% 3.8% 3.2%
Core CPI: 5.0% 4.3% 4.6% 5.2% 5.1% 5.1%

BLS's Monthly CPI report: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

Some excerpts:

The index for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, followed by increases in the index for used cars and trucks and the index for gasoline. The increase in the gasoline index more than offset declines in other energy component indexes, and the energy index rose 0.6 percent in April.

The food index was unchanged in April, as it was in March. The index for food at home fell 0.2 percent over the month while the index for food away from home rose 0.4 percent

CPI Index: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0
CPI Monthly changes: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0?output_view=pct_1mth

Core CPI Index: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0L1E
Core CPI Monthly Changes: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0L1E&output_view=pct_1mth

To view 3 month changes, 6 month changes, year-over-year changes of data.bls.gov time series, click on "More Formatting Options" on the upper right, and check the appropriate checkboxes.

Real average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000032

Real average hourly earnings of private sector workers http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000013

A more reliable gauge of wages and salaries:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143067288#post4

So real wages and salaries have finally turned up in the last 2 quarters.

The last reading is 3.7% below the peak, and 3.4% below the Q1.2021 value.

Source: https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2018/02/are-wages-increasing-or-decreasing

Unfortunately the Employment Cost Index comes out only once a quarter. So we will have to wait until July to get the next quarterly report.