Question: What is consumer Price index?

[Jim Ras]

why exactly does this effect the USD so much?

[Marcus_Aurelius]

The consumer price index report measures the average price paid for by consumers for a fixed basket of goods and services. Urban consumers account for 85 percent of the US population. The CPI does not include volatile food and energy services but includes taxes and user fees directly associeated with specific goods and services associated with them. Price changes are measured in more than 200 categories of goods and services. the consumer price index report is a key guage of inflation and is responsible for driving lots of market activity. Basically, it measures the rate of the price of goods we buy compared to previous weeks, months, and years. So it is important because it might have a negative effect on consumer confidence and spending.

[FxBanker]

As far as I know, the greatest impact on the market provides non-farm payrolls

[Mike]

Bureau of Labor Statistics has the official releases, I check it out each time the number is released:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.toc.htm

[DickP]

A consumer price index (CPI) is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. A consumer price index measures a price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same area (city, region, or nation).[1] It is a price index determined by measuring the price of a standard group of goods meant to represent the typical market basket of a typical urban consumer.[2] Related, but different, terms are the United Kingdom's CPI, RPI, and RPIX. It is one of several price indices calculated by most national statistical agencies. The percent change in the CPI is a measure estimating inflation. The CPI can be used to index (i.e., adjust for the effect of inflation on the real value of money: the medium of exchange) wages, salaries, pensions, and regulated or contracted prices. The CPI is, along with the population census and the National Income and Product Accounts, one of the most closely watched national economic statistics.

[tab]

DICK, are you sure that's all

[shaun.forex]

Thanks for the detailed definition.