Consumer Prices Stopped Rising

The BLS reported this morning that seasonally adjusted consumer prices fell 0.1 percent Feb-Mar. They rose 0.2 percent without the seasonal adjustment.

-0.1 percent is not enough to offset the -1.1 percent decline (Feb-Mar) in retail spending (reported yesterday): the real volume of retail spending in Mar was undoubtably lower than it was in Feb.

Here is the comparison with the 1930s (both series are seasonally unadjusted because the 1930s seasonal adjustment is not available).