Consumer Prices Decline 0.3 Percent in May

By Newsroom America Staff at 14 Jun 2012

(Newsroom America) -- Consumers got a bit of good news last month as prices for a number of items declined, pulling inflation down and easing pressure on pocketbooks.

Led by falling gasoline prices, the consumer price index fell 0.3 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after remaining unchanged in April.

Energy declined 3.9 percent overall, government figures said, though food prices rose 1.7 percent.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, however, the core inflation rate grew 2.3 percent; inflation in consumer prices for the past 12 months has risen 1.7 percent, the government said.

"Inflation is not a big issue right now," Joel Naroff, president of consulting firm Naroff Economic Advisors, told The Associated Press, noting that the Federal Reserve likely would not take any new action to spur the economy to grow.

"At the Fed, I don't think it matters much to more than one or two people," he said.

Natural gas prices plunged last month, diving 14.9 percent. Clothing prices rose 4.4 percent, while prices for new cars inched up 1.3 percent and electricity by 0.2 percent, said the government.

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