Over the year, overall prices rose 0.5 per cent, the largest 12-month increase since December 2014.
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Gross domestic product expanded during the July-September quarter at an annualized pace of 2.1% according to the latest report, revised up from an initial estimate of 1.5%. Prices were largely held down over the past year by a 14.7 per cent year-over-year decline in energy prices. It was the third straight month that the core CPI increased by 0.2 percent.
The consumer-price index, which measures what Americans pay for everything from breakfast cereal to college tuition, was unchanged in November after rising a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in October, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.
Food costs retreated 0.1 percent in November, the first monthly decline since March.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 0.1% in November, ending two months in a row of mild deflation.
Still, the Fed is expected to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate from near zero at the end of the meeting on Wednesday, encouraged by a strengthening labour market.
The increase in core CPI last month reflected steady gains in the cost of rents, airline fares, new motor vehicles and medical care.
The core CPI was up 2 percent from a year earlier, which hit the Federal Reserve’s inflation target. Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed officials have said they believe inflation will begin to move up in 2016 as the temporary impacts of falling global energy prices and a rising dollar begin to fade.
The Fed has not raised rates since June 2006. Low oil prices and a fiercely competitive environment for supermarkets are keeping prices low.
Within the core CPI, rents increased 0.2%, after rising 0.3% in October.
Gold and copper declined 0.28% and 2.79%, respectively, while silver rose 0.29% on the Comex.
The Fed is widely expected to announce a 0.25-percentage-point increase on Wednesday. The cost of doctor visits increased 1.1 percent, while prescription drug prices advanced 0.4 percent. There were also increases in the cost of tobacco, education, communication and motor vehicle insurance.
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The report also showed a modest drop in food prices, which edged down by 0.1 percent in November after inching up by 0.1 percent in October.
