For the fourth month in a row, the shale-revolution crushing plunge in crude prices managed to push energy costs down, with the BLS reporting that “the gasoline index fell for the fourth month in a row, declining 3.0 percent, and the indexes for natural gas and fuel oil also decreased.” As a result, October CPI was unchanged from a month earlier, and up 1.7% from a year ago, below the Fed’s 2.0% target. However, stripping away plunging energy prices, things were a little different, with CPI ex food and energy up 0.2%, slightly above the 0.1% expected, and up from 0.1% before. But before everyone screams deflation, here is what also happened: the shelter index, airline fares, household furnishings and operations, medical care, recreation, personal care, tobacco, and new vehicles were among the indexes that increased. And for those few who have to eat, “The index for food at home has risen 3.3 percent over the last 12 months, the largest 12-month increase since April 2012.” and “The index for nonalcoholic beverages rose 0.6 percent, its largest increase since September 2012.”
In other words, pretty much everything except for gasoline, but luckily no Fed member is every concerned about “those” rising prices. They are noise. One thing however certainly did not increase: real wages.
Here is a table breakdown of the data:
Further details on the key product groups:
