Consumer prices stable

WASHINGTON — Consumer prices barely budged in August, suggesting that inflation isn’t currently a problem for the economy and Federal Reserve policy-makers can stick with a gradual approach to raising interest rates.

The government’s closely watched inflation barometer, the Consumer Price Index, rose by just 0.1 percent in August from the previous month, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Falling prices for clothes, cars and airfares helped to temper rising prices for medical care, education and some food items.

The tiny rise came after consumer prices dipped 0.1 percent in July.

Excluding energy and food prices, which can swing widely from month to month, “core” prices also inched up by 0.1 percent in August for the third month in a row. That suggested that most other prices are remaining well behaved, analysts said.

From an economic point of view, the inflation picture was slightly better than some analysts were expecting. They were forecasting a 0.2 percent rise in both the overall CPI and for core prices.

The latest picture of prices comes less than two months before Election Day. President Bush has a markedly more positive view than his Democratic rival John Kerry of how the economy and the nation’s job market are doing.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says the economy hit a bit of a rough patch in the late spring and summer, but now appears to be gaining ground.

In other economic reports:

• New claims for unemployment benefits rose last week by a seasonally adjusted 16,000 to 333,000, the Labor Department said. The pace of layoffs, however, has slowed over the last year. A year ago, new filings were at 401,000.

• U.S. households saw their net worth in the second quarter of this year rise to a record $45.91 trillion, reflecting in part higher home and other real-estate values.