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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The underlying rate of U.S. inflation accelerated in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The consumer price index increased 0.8%, driven by a 5.7% gain in energy prices, the fastest increase in energy prices since March. This is the biggest gain in consumer prices in more than two years. Food prices rose 0.3%, and apparel, airline and drug prices also spiked. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, was up 0.3% in November, the biggest gain since January. Economists were expecting the CPI to rise 0.7% in November after a 0.3% gain in October. The core rate was expected to rise 0.2% after rising 0.2% in the previous month.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.1% in October, below expectations and slower than the 0.7% increase in sales, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, fell to 1.26 in October from 1.27 in the previous month. This is the lowest inventory-to-sales ratio since July. Economists had been expecting the nation's inventories to rise 0.3% in October. A new piece of data in the report was the 0.4% increase in October retail inventories, which follows a 0.1% gain in September.

CRUDE oil futures closed down in choppy trading yesterday, failing to breach US$100 a barrel after the government reported that crude oil inventories at a key Midwest oil terminal rose for the first time in weeks. The news helped offset the market impact of an overall drop in crude oil stocks. Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 74 cents to settle at US$97.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Stocks of distillates, including heating oil, also dropped more than expected last week, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported. That could mean more bad news for heating oil customers already expecting costs to rise 22 percent this winter. Heating oil futures fell 0.27 cent to settle at US$2.6874 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier hitting US$2.7154, a new record. Crude prices -- which rose as high as US$99.29 on the New York Mercantile Exchange earlier Wednesday and broke the previous intraday record of US$98.62

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The consumer price index increased 0.3% in October, driven by a 1.4% gain in energy prices, the Labor Department said Thursday. This was the fastest increase in energy prices since May. Food prices rose 0.3%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, was up 0.2% in October. Economists were expecting the CPI to rise 0.3% in October after a 0.3% gain in September. The core rate was expected to rise 0.2% in October after rising 0.2% in the previous month.

WASHINGTON The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up by the largest amount since early February, a far bigger increase than had been expected. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits hit 337,000 last week, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week. That was the biggest one-week surge since jobless claims jumped 42,000 the week of Feb. 10. The increase was four times larger than the gain of 6,000 that economists had been expecting and could be a sign that the labor market is starting to wea

ENERGY futures fell yesterday as traders expecting a weakening of demand in the coming months cashed in profits from the previous session's rally. While an encouraging employment report suggested the economy is weathering the problems affecting the subprime mortgage industry, many energy traders and analysts question whether demand for oil and petroleum products will be strong enough in the fourth quarter to support US$80 a barrel oil. Others argue that demand for oil will increase as home heating season progresses. While crude inventories have risen for two straight weeks, supplies of gasoline and distillates including heating oil fell last week. Investors betting demand will tighten in the fourth quarter drove oil prices US$1.50 higher on Thursday. Yesterday, light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 22 cents to settle at US$81.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures ended the week down 44 cents a barrel, or 0.5 percent. Trading yesterday was volatile, with prices alternately rallying and falling. "There's profit-taking going on after yesterday's rally," said Addison Armstrong, an analyst with TFS Energy Futures LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. The quick resolution of many of Thursday's West Coast refinery outages also pressured prices yesterday. November gasoline fell 0.29 cent to settle at US$2.0493 a gallon on the Nymex, ending the week down 1.9 cents, or 0.9 percent. Heating oil futures fell 0.78 cent to settle at US$2.2235 a gallon. Both contracts surged more than 5 cents on Thursday. Natural gas for November delivery fell 33.9 cents to settle at US$7.073 per 1,000 cubic feet. Forecasters see little chance that a series of storms strung from the Gulf of Mexico to the central Atlantic will develop into tropical storms that could threaten critical gas and oil infrastructure. In London, November Brent crude fell 7 cents to settle at US$78.90 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices have been volatile in recent days as investors have battled over whether demand will grow or weaken in the fourth quarter. "It's a stalemate right now," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. "People really don't know what the next move will be." Energy Department data suggests demand for gasoline is falling, and many analysts think that's a function of this year's record gas prices. But others argue that falling refinery activity and heating oil inventories sugg

WASHINGTON -- The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week by the biggest amount in four months. The Labor Department reported a total of 317,000 applications for unemployment benefits last week, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week. It was the biggest gain since jobless claims rose by 18,000 during the week of May 9. The rise was bigger than analysts had been expecting and could be a further sign that the labor market is slowing under the impact of the worst slump in housing in 16 years and a severe credit crunch