CPI in July 2006

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) advanced 0.4 percent in July, following a 0.2-percent rise in June.

[Chart data—TXT]

Energy costs, which declined 0.9 percent in June, advanced 2.9 percent in July. Within energy, the index for petroleum based energy increased 5.0 percent and the index for energy services rose 0.1 percent.

The food index increased 0.2 percent in July.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in July, following increases of 0.3 percent in each of the preceding four months. A sharp drop in the index for apparel was largely responsible for the smaller increase in July.

During the first seven months of 2006, the CPI-U rose at a 4.8-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate. This compares with an increase of 3.4 percent for all of 2005.

For the 12 months ended in July 2006, the CPI-U rose 4.1 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index: July 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1443.

Effective with release of the January 2007 CPI, BLS will publish index levels to three decimal places. Percent changes based on these more precise indexes will continue to be published to one decimal place.