Inflation in check in the metropolitan area
Gas prices below $4.00 per gallon are displayed at a gas station in San Francisco, Calif. The Labor Department said Tuesday, July 17, that gas prices fell in June by a seasonally adjusted 2 percent, the third straight decline. (July 12, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Inflation in the metropolitan area appears to be in check.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday its consumer price index rose 1.6 percent last month compared with a year ago in the 31-county region that includes Long Island. That's the smallest increase since January 2011.
The index climbed 1.8 percent in May, year over year.
Month over month, prices dropped 0.1 percent in June compared with May. It was the first monthly decline this year.
The low cost of gasoline was a key factor, said Martin Kohli, the bureau's chief regional economist. Pump prices were down 6.1 percent, year over year, and off 6.3 percent between May and June. The latter is the biggest decline in 3½ years.
Groceries cost 2.7 percent more last month than a year ago. However, Kohli said, prices fell for potatoes, coffee and ice cream.
Medical care climbed the most, up 5.3 percent from June 2011.
At the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove Tuesday, some shoppers welcomed the respite from soaring gasoline prices, though they weren't sure inflation was no longer a threat.
"Give it a few more months before you say inflation is gone," cautioned Francis Stephenson, a retiree from Stony Brook. "Gas definitely costs less but I haven't seen much of a change in the prices of everything else."
Excluding food and energy, the metropolitan area's price index edged up 2.2 percent in the past year.
Nationally, the annual inflation rate was 1.7 percent in June, unchanged from the prior month. Excluding food and energy, the rate was 2.2 percent.
"The downtrend in headline inflation [which includes food and energy] should continue for a few more months as lower energy prices pass through to the consumer," said economist Kevin Logan of HSBC Securities. "Deflation appears to be less of a threat this year than it was a year ago."
Separately Tuesday, the state Taxation and Finance Department released data for June for shopping activity on Long Island. June sales-tax receipts climbed 9.3 percent in Nassau County from a year earlier and were up 5.3 percent in Suffolk County.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
