September inflation picked up, and gasoline did most of the one-month damage. On Wednesday, October 14, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 0.6% in September and 3.7% from a year earlier. Fox Business and CNBC reported that the annual result was above a 3.6% forecast. The annual rate in August was 3.4%.
Gasoline rose 9.1% from August and 34.2% from a year earlier. The BLS said gasoline accounted for about half of the monthly increase in the overall index. That gasoline share does not mean every item in the basket rose at the headline rate. Energy prices rose 5.2% on the month and 20.4% on the year. Fuel oil, used in home heating, was up 74.2% from a year earlier, the BBC and CNBC reported.
Electricity rose 0.2% in September and 4.4% over the year. Prices excluding food and energy still rose 0.3% on the month and 2.6% on the year, hotter than forecasts of 0.2% and 2.5%. Shelter rose 0.4% and was 3.2% higher than a year ago. That is a CPI housing component, not a measure of home-sale prices.
Did every household bill rise 3.7% in September? No. That is the annual change in the overall index. The monthly rise was 0.6%, and gasoline accounted for about half of it.