CPI Drops again

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased .7 percent in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the third consecutive month the CPI has seen decline. 

The index is now only .1 percent higher than in December 2007.  Declining energy prices, particularly for gasoline, again drove most of the decline.  The energy index declined 8.3 percent in December.  Within energy, the gasoline index fell 17.2 percent and accounted for almost 90 percent of the decrease in

the all items index.  The index for household energy declined 0.7 percent.

Excluding energy, the index was virtually unchanged for the third straight

month.  The food index declined 0.1 percent in December.

The CPI is intended to be a measure of the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households.