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Consumer prices surge
From wire reports
WASHINGTON — Consumer prices surged in September by the largest amount in more than 25 years as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita sent energy prices soaring at the fastest pace on record.
The Labor Department reported Friday that inflation jumped 1.2% last month. It said that 90% of that increase came from a record-setting 12% surge in energy prices which reflected gasoline prices that briefly topped $3 a gallon last month after widespread shutdowns of refineries and oil and natural gas platforms along the Gulf Coast.
Outside of energy and food, inflation was more moderate, rising just 0.1%, the sixth straight month of benign readings in the so-called core rate of inflation. However, economists and officials at the Federal Reserve are worried that the energy jolt from the Gulf Coast hurricanes could start causing more widespread inflation problems.
The increase in the consumer price index — the largest since March 1980 — outstripped forecasts for a 0.9% gain, but the rise in the so-called core price index came in a touch below the 0.2% expected.