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CPI rise lower than expected
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July 14, 1998: 9:08 a.m. ET
June consumer prices up 0.1 percent, below economists' 0.2 percent estimate
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. consumer prices rose in June at their slowest rate in three months, the government said Tuesday, as lower prices for energy and new cars offset a jump in medical costs.
The Consumer Price Index, the government's main inflation gauge, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent in June following a 0.3 percent rise in May, the Labor Department said. That was the smallest gain since March, when the CPI was unchanged.
The June figure fell below expectations, as Wall Street economists predicted June's CPI would rise by 0.2 percent.
The so-called "core rate," which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 0.1 percent, also trailing estimates of a 0.2 percent gain.
Energy prices fell 0. 7 percent as gasoline dropped 0.9 percent and heating fuel and utilities prices slipped 0.4 percent.
Airfares joined the downward trend, falling 2.0 percent, and new-vehicle prices dropped 0.3 percent.
Medical care costs jumped 0.4 percent.
Grocery prices rose 0.1 percent as did housing prices and prescription drugs.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury issue rose in response to benign reports of June's retail sales and the below-forecast CPI. The long bond was up 15/32, for a yield at 5.65. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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