 Lower prices. I'm Chris Foster, Fox News. Another sign of inflation is cooling off. The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index is a tenth of a percent lower in June. Most economists were expecting a small increase in consumer prices. For the year ending in June, the CPI rose 3%. Energy prices declined in June, though food prices rose slightly. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose less than expected, one-tenth of a percent, up 3.3% on an annual basis.