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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

CPI Increases 0.4% mostly due to gasoline

by Calculated Risk on 3/18/2009 08:50:00 AM

From the BLS: Consumer Price Index Summary

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U increased 0.4 percent in February after rising 0.3 percent in January. The energy index rose 3.3 percent in February following a 1.7 percent increase in January as the gasoline index rose 8.3 percent in February after a 6.0 percent increase in January. ... About two-thirds of the all items increase was due to the rise in the gasoline index.
Core inflation increased 0.2 percent.

For some reason owners' equivalent rent increased even though rents are falling in most areas:
The indexes for rent and owners' equivalent rent both rose 0.1 percent in February after increasing 0.3 percent in January.
This will probably lower the concern about deflation a little.