Consumer prices in the US rose by 0.3% in August, official figures have shown, reflecting a jump in petrol prices.

官方统计数据显示，美国八月份商品零售价格上涨0.3%，反映了油价的暴涨。

Fuel prices have pushed up sales and prices

Energy prices helped to push inflation up, with prices in the sector¹ rising 2.3%. The biggest contributor was a 3.9% rise in petrol prices.

Food prices, which had fallen slightly in July, rose by 0.2% in August, the Labor² Department said.

"Core" inflation - a measure which strips out volatile³（挥发性的，不稳定的） energy and food prices - was unchanged.

'Mildly encouraging'

Uri Landesman, from the investment managers Platinum⁴ Partners, said the figures were slightly higher than expected.

"I think the market is more worried about deflation than inflation, so this could be a relief to those worried about deflation, but ultimately I wouldn't put too much stock in it," he said.

"In general, the market is doing a lot better in September than I thought we would be doing, and that's because the data has been better than we thought it would be. I'm not declaring victory yet, but it is mildly encouraging."

Faltering⁵ confidence

Meanwhile, a key measure of consumer confidence has shown that worries over the economy may be getting worse amongst better-off Americans.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell for the first part of September, to the lowest level in more than a year.

People living in households with incomes of more than $75,000 (£48,000) were on average more pessimistic（悲观的） than they were in August, while confidence among those earning less rose.

That may be because of uncertainty⁶ about whether federal tax cuts for the highest earners would be extended beyond the end of the year, according to the survey director Richard Curtin.