|
|
Article: U.S. Adjusts Price Index to Correct an Aberration Early in Year
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 4, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will change the way it adjusts
its most closely watched inflation measure for seasonal fluctuations
to reduce its strong tendency to rise much more rapidly in the first
four months of the year than in the other eight, BLS officials said
yesterday.
Last year, that pattern almost misled the Federal Reserve into
raising interest rates at a May policy-making session when the
monthly increases of the consumer price index, excluding volatile
food and energy prices, jumped to an annual rate of 4.5 percent from
January through April after rising at about a 3 percent rate in the
second half of 1992.
Central bank officials said that they could not understand why ...