The Bureau of Labor Statistics released September’s Consumer Price Index on October 14. CPI-U rose 0.6 percent over the month after seasonal adjustment, compared with 0.4 percent in August. The twelve-month increase was 3.7 percent before seasonal adjustment. Associated Press reporting independently corroborates those headline figures.
The seasonally adjusted gasoline index rose 9.1 percent for the month and accounted for more than half the all-items increase, BLS says. On that same basis, energy rose 5.2 percent and shelter 0.4 percent. Food at home fell 0.1 percent, while the index excluding food and energy increased 0.3 percent.
These are changes in a weighted urban-consumer price basket. A driver, a renter and a household spending little on fuel do not encounter the same mix. The national index measures an aggregate, not the exact increase in each family’s bill.
The time bases also matter. The monthly headline removes estimated seasonal patterns; the annual comparison does not. This dispatch does not annualize one month, predict the Federal Reserve’s next decision or attribute the movement to a particular conflict without additional evidence. The observed result is a fuel-heavy monthly increase with differing movements inside the basket.
Public source ledger