By Rex Nutting
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in October as energy prices increased for the fifth time in six months to offset another rare decline in rents, the Labor Department reported. The consumer price index has fallen 0.2% in the past year. The core CPI - which excludes food and energy prices - rose 0.2% in October, led by higher prices for cars and trucks, due in part to the unwinding of the government's cash-for-clunkers deal. New car prices rose 1.6%, the most in 28 years. Used car prices increased 3.4%. The core CPI is up 1.7% in the past year. The CPI and the core CPI were each a tenth of a percentage point higher than forecast by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.
