Washington — US consumer prices rose less than expected in August as increases in fuel and rents were offset by declines in healthcare and apparel costs, and underlying inflation pressures also appeared to be slowing. Despite the moderate consumer price increases last month, inflation pressures are steadily building up, driven by a tightening labour market and robust economic growth. Labour market strength was reinforced by other data on Thursday showing the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped last week to near a 49-year low. "There is no reason to suspect that the weaker increase in consumer prices in August is the start of another dip like we saw in early 2017," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. "With labour market conditions tight, wage growth accelerating and input prices being pushed up by capacity constraints and recently imposed tariffs, there is plenty of upward pressure on prices."
The Consumer Price Index...
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