US inflation falls for 2nd straight month on lower gas costs

The sharp decline in gasoline prices and cheaper used cars slowed US inflation in August for a second consecutive month, although the price of many other items rose, indicating that inflation remains a heavy burden on American households.

Consumer prices jumped 8.3% in August from a year earlier, the government announced on Tuesday. Although still painfully high, that figure was down from an 8.5% jump in July and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.1%, after a flat reading in July.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices jumped 0.6% from July to August, higher than many economists had expected and a sign of the persistence of inflation.