A gauge of US consumer prices jumped by the most in a decade in July, eating into wage gains that have barely budged in the past four months and strengthening the case for the US Federal Reserve to keep raising rates gradually. The core measure of the consumer price index (CPI), which excludes food and fuel, rose 2.4% from a year earlier, the biggest advance since September 2008, a labour department report showed on Friday. From the prior month, both the main CPI index and core rate rose 0.2% — matching expectations. While shelter costs gave a big boost to the results, steady consumer demand was underpinning inflation just as a trade war was threatening to lift costs on a range of goods. Sustained progress toward the Fed’s goal was keeping the central bank on track for one or two more rate hikes in 2018, even as price pressures were a blow to already weak increases in wages. A separate labour department report on Friday showed inflation-adjusted wages were unchanged in July from the...

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