By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Consumer inflation ticked up in November, as food and energy prices gained, the government reported Wednesday.
The consumer price index rose 0.1% in November, as prices for food and energy each increased 0.2%, the Labor Department said. The change in energy prices was the smallest since June.
Led by increases for shelter and airline fares, the core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, rose 0.1%, for its first gain since July.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the overall and core gauges of inflation to each rise 0.1%.
In the past year, the overall CPI has increased 1.1%, below the Federal Reserve’s target of about 1.6% to 2%. Meanwhile, the core gauge has gained 0.8% over the past year. On Tuesday, Federal Reserve reiterated concerns that “measures of underlying inflation are somewhat low.”
In October, the overall CPI rose 0.2%, while core prices were unchanged.
