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U.S. Consumer Prices Declined for a Third Month in May

U.S. consumer prices declined in May for a third straight month as the coronavirus-induced recession continued to depress demand.

U.S. Consumer Prices Declined for a Third Month in May
A bottle of disinfectant spray,, sits on a trader’s stall at the market.(Photographer: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer prices declined in May for a third straight month as the coronavirus-induced recession continued to depress demand.

The consumer price index fell 0.1% from the prior month after a 0.8% drop in April that was the biggest since 2008, Labor Department figures showed Wednesday. The gauge increased 0.1% from a year earlier following a 0.3% gain in the year through April.

U.S. Consumer Prices Declined for a Third Month in May

The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and fuel costs, also fell 0.1% from the prior month after a 0.4% decrease in April. Consumer inflation by that measure rose 1.2% from the prior year, the smallest advance since 2011, following 1.4% in April.

“We’re seeing a very rapid decline in core inflation and that is reflective of the major demand shock that we’re going through because of the coronavirus,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We’ve reached probably the peak disinflationary impulse in the monthly numbers, but we may see actual realized inflation -- the year-over-year declines -- continue over the next few months as they deteriorate.”

Further declines in prices could spur concern about the risk of deflation as the U.S. economy begins recovering from the Covid-19 recession. At the same time, with states relaxing restrictions and stay-at-home orders, prices stand to increase with the pickup in demand for goods and services.

“It will be a while before the economy returns to normal,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont, said in a note, “and the CPI will be hard to interpret until we get there.”

The Federal Reserve -- which targets 2% inflation based on a separate Commerce Department measure -- often looks to the core index for a better gauge of underlying price trends, and those costs have also declined three consecutive months. Policy makers are set to announce projections later Wednesday showing how long they expect to keep interest rates near zero.

Complicating the inflation figures is the fact that Americans have drastically curtailed purchases of some key elements of the index, such as air travel and clothing, while auto-insurance companies slashed premiums on account of fewer car trips. That’s made the CPI less representative of the prices consumers are experiencing on a day-to-day basis during the pandemic. Weightings of various items were largely little changed in the latest report.

What’s more, there’s a disconnect among consumers themselves. While the government figures show prices are falling, households expect to be paying more for goods and services a year from now. According to data from the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report, year-ahead inflation is seen at 3.2%, 2 percentage points higher than the latest read on annual core prices.

U.S. Consumer Prices Declined for a Third Month in May

After surging in April by the most since 1974, the cost of groceries rose 1% from the prior month, as Americans continued to eat more meals at home amid the pandemic.

Prices for clothing, gasoline, car insurance, and airfares showed another month of declines, despite some states reopening activity. Apparel prices dropped another 2.3%, motor vehicle insurance costs plummeted a record 8.9% and airfares were down 4.9%.

The cost of services, which make up the majority of the CPI, were unchanged after a 0.4% drop the prior month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics flagged issues with collecting data for another month, with in-person collection suspended and some establishments temporarily closed.

A separate Labor Department report showed inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings rose 6.5% in May from the prior year.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.