Cpi Is Up, But Not Enough To Alarm Experts

The Consumer Price Index posted its third consecutive 0.3 percent gain in November and excluding food and energy costs was even better-behaved, rising just 0.2 percent.

Government officials said that through the first 11 months of this year, consumer prices have risen at an annual rate of 3.3 percent, up from 2.5 percent last year.

However, all the acceleration came in higher food and energy costs. Excluding those categories, the underlying rate of inflation is rising at an annual rate 2.7 percent, close to the lowest rate of the past three decades.

Last week, an advisory panel of five prominent economists contended that the consumer price index was overstating inflation by 1.1 percentage points annually and recommended switching to a cost-of-living gauge that would correct flaws in the current CPI.

For November, the 0.3 percent rise in consumer prices was led by a 1.2 percent jump in energy prices, the biggest one-month gain since a 3.2 percent surge last April.

Gasoline costs were up 1.8 percent while natural gas prices soared by 3.4 percent, the biggest increase since a 4.7 percent jump in 1982.