Inflation Easing, U.S. Index Shows: Prices Rtose 0.3% in July
While far from curbed, in flation is definitely easing according to figures released yesterday by the government.</br></br>The Bureau of Labor StatisticsÛª consumer price index (CPI) showed a seasonally-ad-justed increase of 0.3 per cent in July, the same as in June for the smallest two-month rise in nearly two years.</br></br>This contrasts with monthly advances of 0.4 per cent from February through May and 0.6 per cent at the turn of the ! year.</br></br>Put another way, the cost of living now is rising at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent against 4.9 per cent last spring and more than 7 per cent early in the year.</br></br>The June and July figures appeared to confirm oft-repealed claims by Nixon administration that the rate of price increases is tapering off. But the reduced annual rate of 3.7 per cent of the past two months is still nearly three times the 1.3 per cent annual average that prevailed between 1959 and 1965 ÛÓ the last period of relatively stable prices.