By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in August, mainly because of higher costs of housing and medical care, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Energy prices fell 0.3% to mark the first decline since April, while food prices edged up 0.1%. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, also advanced 0.1%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.1% increase in both the overall index and in the core rate. Consumer prices have risen an unadjusted 1.5% over the past 12 months, down sharply from 2% in July. The core rate has risen a somewhat larger 1.8% during the same span. Real or inflation-adjusted hourly wages, meanwhile, ticked up 0.1% in August. Real wages have risen just 0.7% in the past 12 months, however.
