The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released May 2018 Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) today. The all items index increased 0.4% from April – May ’18, and has increased 2.8% between May ’17 – ’18. The Gasoline index increased by 5.9% from April – May ’18 on a seasonally unadjusted basis, and has increased by 21.8% from May ’17 – ’18. The Educational books and supplies category rose 3.0% over the last month and increased 4.3% over the last year. The Major appliances category increased by 1.4% from April – May ’18, and has increased by 3.6% from May ’17 – ’18. The Boys’ apparel category increased by 1.1% over the last month while showing an above average gain of 7.9% over the last year. The Medical care commodities category rose by 0.9% over the last month, and has increased by 2.7% over the last year. Shown below are historical inflation rates through May 2018 for selected CPI categories (all percentages in this blog are seasonally unadjusted averages):
