Highlights:

1. Consumer prices rose 1.9% in the 12 months to January 2010, following a 1.3% increase in December 2009. On an unadjusted monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.3% from December to January, after falling 0.3% from November to December.

All-items Consumer Price Index (CPI):

1. The rise in the all-items CPI was due mostly to gasoline prices. Consumers paid 23.9% more at the pump in January than they did a year earlier, compared with a 25.6% increase in December.
2. Energy prices rose 8.2% between January 2009 and January 2010, after rising 5.9% in December.
3. Prices for purchase of passenger vehicles increased 3.1% on a year-over-year basis in January, following a 3.3% decline in December.
4. All major components in the CPI, except shelter and clothing and footwear, recorded increases in January.
5. Upward pressure on the 12-month change came primarily from higher prices for transportation (+7.7%), food (+1.4%), and household operations, furnishings and equipment (+2.1%).

Main contributors to the 12-month change in the CPI:

Main upward contributors:

1. Gasoline (+23.9%)
2. Passenger vehicle insurance premiums (+7.7%)
3. Purchase of passenger vehicles (+3.1%)
4. Property taxes (+4.3%)
5. Food purchased from restaurants (+2.6%)

Main downward contributors:

1. Mortgage interest cost (-5.5%)
2. Natural gas (-21.4%)
3. Women’s clothing (-6.8%)
4. Fresh vegetables (-7.7%)
5. Video equipment (-17.9%)

Main contributors to the monthly change in the CPI, not seasonally adjusted:

Main upward contributors:

1. Gasoline (+3.6%)
2. Natural gas (+7.2%)
3. Non-alcoholic beverages (+9.1%)
4. Purchase of passenger vehicles (+1.0%)
5. Telephone services (+1.3%)

Main downward contributors:

1. Travel tours (-18.6%)
2. Mortgage interest cost (-0.4%)
3. Sporting equipment (-6.0%)
4. Fresh vegetables (-1.9%)
5. Electricity (-0.6%)