Consumer prices jumped 3.3 percent last year as the biggest surge in fuel bills in 14 years pushed up inflation at the fastest pace since 2000, the government reported Wednesday. But in a sign that some relief may be on the way, retail prices fell by 0.1 percent in December, driven lower by the largest one-month drop in energy costs since July.

The Labor Department said the 3.3 percent increase last year in its Consumer Price Index, the most closely watched barometer of inflation, was the biggest annual jump since a 3.4 percent rise in 2000. In 2003, consumer prices had risen just 1.9 percent.

The acceleration in price pressures last year was led by a 16.6 percent jump in energy costs, the biggest annual gain in 14 years — since an 18.1 percent surge in fuel bills in 1990, when supply disruptions related to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait roiled world oil markets.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 12:57 PM | Basie! Home