(RTTNews) - Consumer prices in the U.S. showed a modest increase in the month of November, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, with the data suggesting that higher producer prices are not being passed on to consumers. The Labor Department said its consumer price index edged up by 0.1 percent in November following an unrevised 0.2 percent increase in October. Economists had been expecting consumer prices to increase by about 0.2 percent. While the Labor Department's report on producer prices released on Tuesday showed a 2.1 increase in energy prices, consumer energy prices rose by just 0.2 percent in November after surging up by 2.6 percent in the previous month. A 4.2 percent increase in prices for fuel oil was offset by a 5.7 percent drop in prices for natural gas. Gasoline prices rose by 0.7 percent in November after jumping by 4.6 percent in October. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also rose by 0.1 percent in November after coming in unchanged in each of the three previous month. The modest increase in core prices came in line with economist estimates. Prices for new vehicles and used cars and trucks fell by 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, while prices for transportation services rose by 0.5 percent. The prices in other categories showed even more modest changes. Total consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in November, reflecting a modest slowdown from the 1.2 percent rate of growth reported for October. Meanwhile, the annual rate of core consumer price growth edged up to 0.8 percent in November from 0.6 percent in the previous month. The relatively modest year-over-year price growth seems to suggest benign inflation, although Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, noted that the absolute CPI price index, an indicator of the cost of living, rose to its second highest reading on record. Noting that the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the "measures of underlying inflation are somewhat low," Boockvar said, "The rate of change may square with this but the absolute level certainly does not." "This talk of deflation and Fed actions in response doesn't square with the reality that we experience everyday in what we purchase," he added. The Labor Department released a separate report on Tuesday showing that U.S. producer prices increased by more than expected in November due in part to another substantial increase in energy prices. The report showed that the producer price index increased by 0.8 percent in November after rising by 0.4 percent in each of the two previous months. The price growth exceeded economist estimates for a 0.5 percent increase in producer prices.

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