Washington, August 17--Consumer prices fell in July as gasoline prices posted their biggest decline in eight months and food prices fell.
The Labor Department said its consumer-price index declined 0.1% last month, reversing part of a 0.3% gain in June, the Labor Department said today. Falling energy prices accounted for much of the drop. The closely watched core index, which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose by a mild 0.1% for second month in a row.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC had called for a 0.1% gain in the overall index and a 0.2% increase in the core index. Still, the numbers were consistent with other price measures in July, which have shown inflation to be tame.
Gasoline prices fell 4.2% in July, the biggest decline since a 5.1% drop in November. The closely watched Lundberg Survey showed that prices last Friday had dropped by nearly five cents in the past three weeks, with the nationwide average falling to $1.90 per gallon. That's down significantly from the peak at slightly more than $2.10 per gallon in mid-May
