Official figures show that rising food costs helped push US consumer prices up for a second straight month in January by 0.4%. The figure was higher than expected.
The Labor Department report showed that the annual rate of US inflation was 4.3% in January. More significantly, core prices, which exclude food and energy items, rose 0.3% in January, the strongest monthly rise since June 2006, after gaining 0.2% in December.
The department said energy prices rose 0.7% in January, slowing from a 1.7% gain in December and the smallest monthly rise in energy costs since last August. But food costs jumped 0.7% in January.
Separate figures showed that permits to build new US homes in January decreased 3%, as expected, to the lowest rate in more than 16 years while housing starts rose 0.8%, also roughly in line with forecasts, showing signs of more struggles ahead for the US housing market.
Permits slipped to a 1.048 million annual rate. They are seen as an indicator of builder confidence in future housing activity. Starts rose to a 1.012 million annual rate, but it was only a slight rebound from the revised 1.004 million pace in December, which was the lowest pace for starts since May 1991.
