by Calculated Risk on 9/16/2008 08:32:00 AM

From the BLS: Consumer Price Index

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U decreased 0.1 percent in August, following a 0.8 percent increase in July. The index for energy fell 3.1 percent in August after three consecutive sharp increases.

Core inflation:

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in August after increasing 0.3 percent in July.

Interesting, the BLS reported a sharp decline (1.1 percent) in the lodging away from index, suggesting pricing weakness for hotels.

This is a little bit of good news, and takes some of the pressure off the Fed. However, the CPI has still increased 5.1% (SAAR) during the first eight months of 2008 - way too high for comfort.