Consumer Price Index Falls 1%; Drop Is Biggest on Record

Consumer prices fell 1% in October, the biggest decline on record, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The consumer price index, the government’s main gauge of inflation, had been unchanged in September, Labor said.

The decline was the biggest since Labor began keeping records in 1947. Economists had forecast a 0.8% decline in the CPI, Bloomberg reported. Prices have fallen 3.7% in the 12 months through October.

The so-called core CPI excluding food and energy fell for the first time in 26 years, less than the 0.1% gain forecast.

The CPI is the government’s broadest gauge of costs for goods and services. Almost 60% of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services.

If consumer prices are climbing, it could reflect an increase in demand for consumer goods, which increases the demand for trucking services.