Consumer Prices Fall by Record Amount in October

Washington, DC, Nov. 19, 2008--U.S. consumer prices fell by the steepest amount since records were tabulated in 1947, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Prices fell 1% in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, with energy prices plunging fully 8.6%.
 
Both the overall and energy decreases were the biggest since the government began keeping such records. Data on the overall CPI date back to 1947, and the energy data go back to 1957.
 
The core consumer price index, which excludes food- and energy-price inputs, eased 0.1%, the first time there's been a decline in the core rate since 1982.

Economists had expected the overall October CPI to fall 0.9%, with the core pegged to rise 0.1%.

The overall CPI has risen 3.7% in the past year, while the core rate for retail-level inflation has grown 2.2%.
Average real weekly earnings are up 2.9% in the past year.