Every day a new piece of the economic puzzle.(Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)

Financial Update, April, 2005

At 8:30 a.m. on the third Wednesday of every month, the U.S. Labor Department publishes the latest consumer price index (the CPI), a composite of prices from a hypothetical basket of goods and services that consumers purchase. Changes in the index reflect broad-based price changes across the economy. These movements in the CPI, along with other inflation measures, are of special interest to the Federal Reserve because of its congressional mandate to keep inflation low and prices stable.

Keeping track of the economy

On those Wednesdays, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta economic analysts await the CPI release so that they can comb through the components of the data series, interpret the numbers in light of past performance and other economic...

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