Written by Michael Thervil
Image by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The American Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers from January 2025 seems to be on the up as the CPI numbers have been published this morning. Looking at the “All Items” section on the main CPI chart which provides an overview, we see that “All Items Less Food and Energy” are up 3.3% followed by “Food” which is up 2.5% and then on the tail end, “The “Energy” sector which rose the latest to 1.0%. It appears that things looked pretty good for the American consumer in January 2025, despite American consumers complaining about the rise in everyday cost and taxation across the board.
When we started drilling down into the “All Items Less Food and Energy”, we found that “Commodities Less Food and Energy” dipped slightly into the negative by -0.1%. On the lowest end of the sector the sale of “New Vehicles” dipped into the negative by -0.3% and on the high end “Tobacco and Smoking Products” shot way up to 6.8%. The question that’s on everyone's mind is why? Are Americans self-medicating or is there another reason for the spike in tobacco and smoking products? The answer is currently unclear. In between “New Vehicles” and “Tobacco and Smoking Products” the second lowest performing sector was “Apparel” which rose 0.4%.
“Apparel” was followed by “Used Cars and Trucks” which rose slightly to 1.0%. “Alcoholic Beverages” went up slightly as well to 1.4%. Finally in this sector, “Medical Care Commodities” rose to second to “Tobacco and Smoking Products” to 2.3%. Looking at the “Services Less Energy Services” went up to 4.3%. Within this sector the highest performing commodity was “Transportation Services” which rose sharply to 8.0%. When compared to car sales of any type, it can easily be speculated that it's cheaper to catch an Uber or find some other means of transportation than it is to purchase and maintain a car.
The next highest performing commodity within the “Service Less Energy Services” sector was “Shelter” which rose to 4.4% followed by “Medical Care Services” which was also up by 2.7%. The next biggest sector in the CPI was “Food”. “Food From Home” was up 1.9% and “Food Away From Home” dominated the sector with an increase of 3.4%. Looking at “Food From Home”, “Meats, Poultry, Fish, And Eggs” dominated this category with an increase of 6.1%; followed by “Nonalcoholic Beverages” which rose to 2.2%. This sector was followed by “Dairy and Related Products" which is up 1.2%. The lowest performing categories in this sector were “Other Food At Home” 0.8%, “Cereal and Bakery Products” 0.4%, and lastly, “Fruits and Vegetables” 0.3%.
When it came to the “Energy” sector. Drilling down it was reported that the “Energy Services” category rose to 2.5% while “Energy Commodities" fell to -0.5% for January 2025. When you look further into “Energy Commodities”, “Fuel Oil” tanked to -5.3% and “Gasoline (All Types)” fell into the negative as well to -0.2%. On the brighter side of “Energy Services”, “Natural Gas (Piped)” shot up to 4.9%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “February 2025 CPI data are scheduled to be released on March 12, 2025, at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time”.
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