Gas Prices Fuel Inflation Concers

The consumer price index jumped a whopping 0.5% last month, egged on my higher energy prices.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported that its closely watched Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent in July, the biggest increase in three months. In July, overall inflation was driven higher by a big 3.8 percent jump in energy costs.

However, outside of food and energy, prices remained well behaved. The core inflation rate edged up by just 0.1 in July. This price category, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, was helped in July by a 1 percent drop in new car prices, the biggest one-month decline in more than 30 years.