Petrol hikes push June consumer prices up 0.3%

[WASHINGTON] The cost of living in the US rose last month, paced by a jump in petrol that is now reversing, bolstering Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's view that recent increases were temporary.

The consumer price index increased 0.3 per cent after a 0.4 per cent gain the prior month, figures from the Labor Department showed yesterday in Washington. The core measure, which excludes volatile food and fuel costs, increased 0.1 per cent, less than projected.

Inflation has failed to get a toehold as slowing global demand has prevented companies from exercising pricing power. If prices remain in check, Fed policymakers can keep interest rates low well into next year.

"Inflation, at least for the moment, isn't a problem," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Inc in Lexington, Massachusetts, who accurately forecast the change in core inflation. "We had a little bit of a scare, a minute of worry for a while there, but…