Falling gasoline prices put a dent in metro Denver inflation

Gasoline prices dropped by nearly a fifth between September and November and meat and poultry prices fell by 6.7% in metro Denver, leading to the first bi-monthly decline in consumer inflation in 14 months, according to an update Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Between September and November, prices in Denver fell by 0.34%. This was the first two-month period of deflation since September of last year,” said Cole Anderson, a research analyst with the Common Sense Institute, in an emailed report.

The Consumer Price Index for Denver-Aurora-Lakewood dropped to an annual rate of 4.5%, down from 5.4% in September.  Metro Denver is still outpacing the U.S. CPI rate of 3.1% in November, but the gap is narrowing.

The heaviest upward pressure on prices for metro Denver came from a 6.2% gain in shelter costs, a heavily-weighted category that includes rents and a rent equivalent for people who own their homes.

Metro Denver diverges widely from the rest of the country when it comes to utilities. Those “energy services” are up 11.8% the past year locally compared to a 1.7% gain nationally.

Given that electricity prices are down 0.7% the past year in metro Denver, natural gas prices are likely behind the outsized gains, but those aren’t broken out in the bi-monthly reports for metro Denver.

Grocery costs are up 1.8% on the year, and prices are softening in several staples. Nonalcoholic beverages are down 1.5% on the year, and dairy products are up only 0.1%.