Consumer Prices Flat in September

Washington, DC, Oct. 16, 2008--Consumer prices were flat last month as gasoline costs and falling prices for clothes and new cars offset increases elsewhere.

The Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation barometer, was flat after prices actually dipped by 0.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

However, those two months followed a 1.1 percent in June.

Stripping out energy and food products, "core" prices inched up by just 0.1 percent in September, an improvement from a 0.2 percent advance in August.

The latest showing on inflation was better than economists expected. They were forecasting a 0.1 percent increase in overall prices and a 0.2 percent rise minus energy and food.

So far this year, consumer prices have risen at an annualized pace of 4.5 percent, faster than the 4.1 percent increase for all of 2007. Core prices in the first nine months of this year have increased at a pace of 2.4 percent, matching the rise for all of last year.