Consumer prices rise for third consecutive month

The cost of living in the United States rose for a third consecutive month, driven by fuel and housing, indicating inflation is moving closer to the Federal Reserve's goal.

The consumer-price index climbed 0.4 percent in October from the previous month after a 0.3 percent gain in September, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.

Firming inflation and a healthy job market have laid the groundwork for Fed officials to raise interest rates when they meet next month. (See related story on this page.)

With energy costs grinding higher, price pressures will have room to gain traction more broadly in the economy, while companies may begin to gain greater pricing power amid steady consumer demand.

'We're seeing a gradual uptrend in inflation,” Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics in Boulder, Colo., said before the report. 'It's one more factor that locks in a Fed hike in December.”

The Fed's preferred gauge of inflation - which is the Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures measure - hasn't matched the central bank's two percent goal since April 2012.