US consumer prices were unchanged in October from September, holding the annual inflation rate at a modest 1.7%, the country's Labor Department has reported.
The ongoing fall in energy prices, especially gasoline and fuel oil, held the headline number down against gains in the costs of services. Energy costs dropped 1.9% in the month alone.
Food prices meanwhile were up just 0.1%.
When the two volatile components of the consumer price index, food and energy, are stripped out, core prices were up 0.2% in the month, and 1.8% year-on-year.
The Federal Reserve has sought to boost inflation up to around 2% as a sign of firm economic growth.
But the minutes from their end-October policy meeting released yesterday showed them more concerned about the prospect of weakening inflation, in part due to sagging growth in other parts of the world.
Meanwhile, new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits edged lower last week but held to the recent low range that suggests increasing tightness in the jobs market, Labor Department figures showed today.
Initial jobless claims numbered 291,000 in the week ending November 15, down from 293,000 last week.
The four-week average, a sign of the pace of layoffs, was 287,500 claims, compared with 340,250 a year ago.
At the beginning of November the government reported another fall in the overall unemployment rate to 5.8%, with job creation holding a pace above 200,000 a month for the ninth consecutive month.
