MW: Consumer prices show smallest gain in 54 years
In another sign of the depth of the global economic slowdown, U.S. consumer prices increased just 0.1% in 2008, the smallest increase in 54 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. The consumer price index fell 0.7% in December, the third decline in a row, led by an 8.3% drop in energy prices and a 0.1% drop in food prices. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected a 0.8% decline. Core prices - which exclude food and energy prices - were flat in December for the second straight month, as expected. Consumer prices were up 0.1% in 2008, the slowest annual inflation since prices fell 0.7% in 1954. The core CPI was up 1.8% in 2008, the lowest increase since 2003.
