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Friday, December 16, 2011

Key Measures of Inflation mostly slow in November

by Calculated Risk on 12/16/2011 11:55:00 AM

Earlier today the BLS reported:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in November on a seasonally adjusted basis ... The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in November following increases of 0.1 percent in each of the prior two months.
The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI and the trimmed-mean CPI this morning:
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the median Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% (1.1% annualized rate) in November. The 16% trimmed-mean Consumer Price Index increased 0.1% (1.0% annualized rate) during the month.
...
The CPI less food and energy increased 0.2% (2.1% annualized rate) on a seasonally adjusted basis. ... Over the last 12 months, the median CPI rose 2.2%, the trimmed-mean CPI rose 2.5%, the CPI rose 3.4%, and the CPI less food and energy rose 2.2%.
Note: The Cleveland Fed has a discussion of a number of measures of inflation: Measuring Inflation. You can see the median CPI details for November here.

On a year-over-year basis, these measures of inflation have stopped increasing, and are slightly above the Fed's target. On a monthly basis, the rate of increase is mostly below the Fed's target (Core is above, median and trimmed-mean are below).

Inflation Measures Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the year-over-year change for these three key measures of inflation. On a year-over-year basis, the median CPI rose 2.2%, the trimmed-mean CPI rose 2.5%, and core CPI rose 2.2%.

On a monthly basis, the median Consumer Price Index increased 1.1% at an annualized rate, the 16% trimmed-mean Consumer Price Index increased 1.0% annualized, and core CPI increased 2.1% annualized.

Both the median CPI and trimmed-mean CPI increased at a slower rate in November than in October.