Como se combate o populismo? "Com eleições", responde Fukuyama

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8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. MEDICAL CARE PRICES UP 0.4%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. REAL WEEKLY EARNINGS DOWN 0.2%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. HOUSING PRICES RISE 0.1%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. ENERGY PRICES FALL 1.1%; FOOD PRICES UP 0.1%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. CPI UP 3% IN PAST YEAR; CORE CPI UP 2.3%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. DEC. CPI REVISED TO UNCHANGED VS. -0.1%
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. CORE CPI UP 0.2% AS EXPECTED
8:29am 02/23/05 U.S. JAN. CPI UP 0.1% VS. 0.2% EXPECTED

ECONOMIC REPORT: Consumer prices edge 0.1% higher
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:31 AM ET Feb. 23, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Falling energy prices kept gains in U.S. consumer prices to a minimum in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted consumer price index increased 0.1 percent in January after no change in December, revised from a 0.1 percent decline. Excluding food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.2 percent.

The increase in the headline CPI was below expectations of a 0.2 percent gain. The core rate matched expectations, although almost as many economists were forecasting a 0.3 percent increase.

In the past year, the CPI has risen 3 percent. The core rate is up 2.3 percent in the past 12 months.

With inflation at 0.2 percent in January and average weekly earnings down 0.1 percent, real weekly earnings fell 0.2 percent in January, the government agency said in a separate release. Real weekly earnings are down 0.7 percent in the past year.

The CPI report is likely to reassure markets that inflationary pressures remain muted, as the Federal Reserve has been saying. A worse-than-expected report on producer prices last Friday sent inflationary fears through fixed income markets.

Commodity prices were flat in January, while services prices increased 0.2 percent

The Federal Open Market Committee meets again on March 22 to consider a seventh consecutive rate hike. Most analysts believe the FOMC will continue to raise rates at each meeting through the summer.

In the CPI release, energy prices decreased 1.1 percent in January as gasoline prices fell 2.1 percent and natural gas prices dropped 3 percent. Electricity prices rose 1.7 percent, the biggest gain in three and a half years.

Food prices increased 0.1 percent as food for preparation at home fell 0.2 percent. Vegetable prices sank 11.8 percent, the largest decline in 13 years.

Housing prices, which represent about 40 percent of the CPI market basket, increased 0.1 percent, the smallest gain since August. Rent and owners' equivalent rents both increased 0.3 percent, while lodging away from home dropped 0.7 percent, likely the result of a late Super Bowl this year.

Transportation costs dropped 0.2 percent as fuel prices fell. New car prices increased 0.7 percent. Airfares fell 0.9 percent.

Apparel prices increased 0.3 percent.

Medical care prices increased 0.4 percent, including 0.4 percent for prescription drugs and 0.5 percent for hospital services.

Tobacco prices increased 1.9 percent, the largest gain since August 2002.