Consumer Prices | Weekly Extract

Consumer Prices : Week of June 6 - 10

Inflation: High Prices generate Consumer Distrust.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its May report on inflation, which rose 8.6% y/y. This is the highest reading since December 1981 when Paul Volker was chairman of the Federal Reserve and Ronald Reagan was president.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.0% in May, after rising 0.3% in April.

The increase was across the board with the housing, gasoline and food indexes being the largest contributors. After falling in April, the energy index increased by 3.9% during the month with the gasoline index increasing by 4.1%.

Companies have been unable to find sufficient labor and materials for all facets of the supply chain and their productions have been disrupted. When Russia invaded Ukraine, oil prices skyrocketed, leading to record gasoline prices. These factors have exacerbated supply chain issues, decreasing the supply of products on the shelves of supermarkets and stores of all kinds, pushing prices ever higher.