January inflation eases
February 21, 2024The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.9% on a year-over-year basis in January, following a 3.4% gain in December. The largest contributor to headline deceleration was lower year-over-year prices for gasoline in January (-4.0%) compared with December (+1.4%).
Price growth for food purchased from stores slowed year over year in January (+3.4%) compared with December (+4.7%), putting downward pressure on the all-items CPI.
The deceleration of grocery prices was broad-based, with products such as meat (+2.8%), other food preparations (+4.2%), dairy products (+1.5%), bakery products (+4.0%) and fresh fruit (+1.9%) contributing to the slower year-over-year price growth in January. Other food items, such as soup (-2.1%), bacon (-8.4%) and shrimps and prawns (-3.4%) had year-over-year price declines in January.
RCC Members are encourage to visit the Retail Pulse Dashboard for additional retail specific statistics.
