Sharply higher gas prices pushed up inflation in August, yet underlying price measures cooled

A spike in gas prices pushed up inflation in August, yet most other costs rose at a more modest pace, evidence that consumer price increases overall are still cooling. In a set of conflicting data on Wednesday, the Labor Department said the consumer price index rose 3.7% in August from a year ago, up from a 3.2% annual pace in July. Yet excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices rose 4.3%, down from 4.7% in July and the smallest increase in nearly two years. It is still far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.