Inflation seems to have ground to a halt in October, as the Labor Department statistics released yesterday showed that consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent for the month, after four months of increases. Core inflation - stripping out the more volatile food and fuel costs - rose by just 0.1 percent. Overall, consumer prices have increased by 3.5 percent in the past 12 months.
The biggest drops in prices for October came in the energy sector. Gasoline was down 3.1 percent on the month, but even so, it's still up 23.5 percent for the past year. On the other hand, utility gas service dropped a similar 3.0 percent in October, but it's now down 2.2 percent over the course of the year.
For the full year, aside from energy prices, the biggest risers were used cars and trucks (up 5.2 percent), food (up 4.7 percent), and apparel (up 4.2 percent). Interestingly enough, the cost of food eaten at home was up more than twice as much as food eaten out, by a margin of 6.2 percent to 2.7 percent.
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