WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The index for U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in July, pulled up by energy prices, to reach the largest gain since August of 2009, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The energy index in July rose 2.6%, its first gain since January. Meanwhile, food prices fell 0.1%.
The core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% in July. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the overall CPI to rise 0.3%, and for the core to gain 0.1%.
Some analysts have been concerned about deflation and disinflation.
"Although inflation remains very modest on both core and overall CPI measures, this report does not show signs of continued disinflation," wrote analysts at RDQ Economics in a research note. "Also, the recent pickup in the core CPI may hint that underlying inflation trends are bottoming (helped by an end of the drag from rent and rental equivalence)."
Over the past 12 months, overall consumer prices have climbed 1.2%, while core prices have gained 0.9%.
Details
In July, gasoline prices rose 4.6%, while electricity prices gained 0.5%.
One notable decline came from medical care, where prices fell 0.1% -- the first decline of any amount since November 1975.
Prices declined for recreation fell by 0.1% and for airline fares by 1.2%.
Prices for fruits and vegetables fell 1.9%. Meanwhile, prices for meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose 0.3%, and prices for dairy and related products gained 0.5%.
Shelter prices, which account for nearly a third of the CPI's market basket, rose 0.1%.
Prices for apparel rose 0.6%, while tobacco prices gained 1.6%. In a separate report, the Labor Department said real, or inflation-adjusted, average weekly earnings rose 0.2% in July. Real average hourly earnings fell 0.2%
