The Consumer Price Index, or CPI rose 0.2% in September, down from a 0.4% increase in August and down 1.3% from a year ago. If food and energy prices are stripped out to get to core inflation, prices also rose 0.2%, up from 0.1% in August. Core inflation is up 1.5% from a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, those numbers are likely to flip in the coming months. Food prices actually declined slightly for the month, with a 0.1% decline in September reversing a 0.1% increase in August, and unchanged from a year ago. In particular, the price for food at home fell 0.3% in September after being unchanged in August. On a year-over-year basis, prices at the grocery stores are down 2.5%. This is not good news for firms like Kroger's (KR) and Supervalu (SVU). It is energy that is the big difference between ...

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in August on a headline basis, a tick higher than consensus expectations of 0.3%. If food and energy are stripped out, prices rose 0.1%, in line with expectations. On a headline basis this follows an unchanged reading in July and a 0.7% increase in June. On a core basis it follows increases of 0.1% and 0.2% in July and June, respectively. The rise in the headline number was almost entirely a function of a 9.1% increase in gasoline prices. Food prices rose in line with the rest of the consumer shopping basket, up 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis it is a different picture, with core prices up 1.5%, while on a headline basis the CPI is down 1.4%. Once again, the key difference is energy prices. Given that the collapse in energy prices happened last fall, the differential in year-over-year prices between ...