The CPI edges lower

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Consumers, check your personal price index. Was it unexpectedly lower in March, just like the nation’s consumer price index, released today by the Labor Department? The CPI slipped 0.1% in March.

Didn’t think so.

In March, U.S. energy prices fell 3% in March (not exactly what happened at most gasoline pumps in California). Airfares dropped 2.3%.

Food prices edged down 0.1%, led by dairy’s 2.4% decline. Clothing costs were 0.2% lower. Housing was 0.1% cheaper.

Tobacco prices puffed a whopping 11% higher. New cars cost 0.6% more. Medical care rose 0.2%.

In case you’re wondering, those numbers are reached by crunching prices on about 80,000 items gathered by a nationwide army of employees from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 70 work in the Los Angeles area.

-- Nancy Rivera Brooks