May 2012 Consumer and Producer Price Indices

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The seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index decreased 0.3 percent in May. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.7 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The gasoline index declined 6.8 percent in May, leading to a sharp decrease in the energy index and the decline in the all items index. The indexes for natural gas and fuel oil declined as well, though the electricity index increased. The food index was unchanged, with a slight decline in the index for food at home offsetting an increase in the food away from home index.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in May, the third consecutive such increase. The indexes contributing to the increase were largely the same ones as in April: shelter, medical care, used cars and trucks, apparel, airline fares, and new vehicles.

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index for finished goods (PPI) fell 1.0 percent in May. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods decreased 0.8 percent in May, and the crude goods index fell 3.2 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 0.7 percent for the 12 months ended in May, the eighth straight month of slowing year-over-year increases following a 7.0 percent rise for the 12 months ended September 2011.
 

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Prices of both intermediate materials and pulp, paper & allied products are lower than they were a year earlier, but softwood lumber is up 10.5 percent.
 

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