The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released April 2018 Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) today. Fuel oil and other fuels increased by 15.4% from March – April ’18 on a seasonally unadjusted basis, and has increased by 0.4% from April ’17 – ’18. The Other food away from home category rose 4.7% over the last month and increased 2.3% over the last year. The Tobacco and smoking products category increased by 3.0% from March – April ’18, and has increased by 1.0% from April ’17 – ’18. The Meats category increased by 2.4% over the last month while showing a modest gain of 0.5% over the last year. The major appliances category rose by 1.6% over the last month, and has increased by 4.8% over the last year. The commodities index increased 0.8% from March – April 2018, and has increased 1.8% between April ’17 – ’18. Shown below are historical inflation rates through March 2018 for selected CPI categories (all percentages mentioned above and shown below are seasonally unadjusted averages):
