Improved U.S. Growth Lifts Inflation as Claims Drop: Economy

An improving U.S. economy is underpinning inflation, limiting firings and lifting consumers’ moods, brightening the outlook for growth at the start of 2014.

The consumer-price index rose 0.3 percent in December, the biggest gain in six months, as fuel and rents climbed, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since November, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index’s monthly expectations gauge improved to a five-month high and manufacturing picked up in January, other reports showed.