August 15,2008
U.S. consumer prices rise by 0.8% in July
U.S. consumer prices, pushed by higher energy and food costs, jumped by 0.8 percent in July, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The July surge in overall prices was twice a 0.4-percent gain expected by analysts and followed big increases of 0.6 percent in May and 1.1 percent in June.
Compared with the previous year, consumer prices in July surged by 5.6 percent, the biggest 12-month gain since January 1991.
Energy prices rose by 4 percent last month after an even bigger6.6 percent advance in June, the report showed. That was driven by a 4.1- percent increase in gasoline costs.
Prices at the pump were 37.9 percent above where they were a year ago.
Food prices, meanwhile, increased by 0.9 percent last month, up from a 0.8-percent rise in the previous month, reflecting higher costs for a wide variety of food products.
Over the past 12 months, energy prices shot up by 29.3 percent and food prices surged by 6 percent.
The report also showed that "core" consumer prices, which exclude volatile energy and food costs, gained by 0.3 percent last month, slightly higher than the 0.2-percent rise that analysts had been expecting.
For the past 12 months, core prices have risen by 2.5 percent, the biggest 12-month gain since February.
Outside of food and energy, clothing prices jumped by 1.2 percent in July, the biggest advance since August 1998. Airline tickets rose by 1.3 percent, reflecting the surge in fuel costs.
Consumer prices measure inflation pressures at the retail level. The core prices have been watched closely by the Federal Reserve.
Source:Xinhua