The average cost of a market basket of goods and services in the United States was unchanged in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI). The April CPI level was 229.177, which is an increase of 2.1 percent over the past year before seasonal adjustment.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) remained unchanged since March 2012 Index. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, gained 0.2 percent in April. Core CPI has grown 2.3 percent over the past 12 months. The energy index fell by 1.7 percent, accounting for the weakness in the CPI index. The food index rose by 0.2 percent as the index for fruits, vegetables and eggs increased sharply.
Used Cars and Trucks showed its second consecutive gain of 1.5 percent after months of steady decline. New Vehicles had an increase of 0.4 percent, its third increase in 6 months. For the second month in a row, Apparel showed growth, increasing by 0.4 percent. Medical Care Commodities with a 0.4 percent increase and Transportation services with a 0.5 percent showed growth in their sectors. Services Less Energy Services grew at 0.3 percent. For the seventh month in a row, the Shelter index increased 0.2 percent. Medical Care Services Indices also grew at a 0.4 growth topping last month's gain of 0.3 percent.
The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation fares, doctors’ and dentists’ services, prescription drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day activities. Prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country (including Kansas City and St. Louis) from about 50,000 housing units and approximately 23,000 stores, hospitals and other types of service establishments.
The actual index is expressed as a number derived by comparing the current cost of goods and services to the cost of the same items between 1982 and 1984. The reference year is assigned a value of 100. Subsequent indices are expressed as a percentage of the base year.
