Inflation in May rose at the slowest rate in more than two years, though prices are still higher than usual across a variety of categories.
Consumer prices rose 4 percent in May compared to last year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released on Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This marks the smallest 12-month increase since the period ending March 2021 and a slowdown from April’s 4.9 percent and March’s 5 percent. Compared to April 2023, prices in May rose 0.1 percent.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the Core CPI rose 0.4 percent from April and 5.3 percent from the same month in 2022.
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Retail footwear prices similarly rose at a decelerating rate in May, up 0.2 percent from the same time last year. This marks the 26th straight month of increases but the sixth straight month of a 1 percent increase or less. Prices for women’s footwear were up 0.9 percent and kid’s footwear prices were up 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, men’s footwear prices dropped 0.7 percent.
According to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), footwear prices are up 0.4 percent year to date. In April, FDRA noted a large gap between import costs and retail prices, which FDRA predicted would level out. And according to recently available import data, footwear import costs dropped 2.3 percent in April after rising at double digit rates for eleven of the previous 12 months.
“Over the long term, average import costs for footwear tend to rise or fall in step with retail footwear prices,” Gary Raines, chief economist at FDRA, told FN. “We look for these import costs to remain soft well through 2023, narrowing this gap even further.”
Online prices in May also fell 2.3 percent year-over-year, according to data from Adobe on Monday. This drop was “the most significant” decrease since the pandemic started and represented the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year online price decreases.
