The cost of living in the U.S. climbed in December by the most in six months, led by gains in fuel and rents that indicate inflation is making progress in moving toward the Federal Reserve’s goal.

The 0.3 percent gain in the consumer-price index was the biggest since June and followed no change the prior month, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. It matched the median forecast of 87 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The core measure, which excludes food and fuel, rose 0.1 percent, restrained by a record decrease in medical commodities including prescription drugs.

Growing demand rental housing and clothing gives companies more pricing power and signals the Fed is succeeding in stemming disinflation. That will make it easier for policy makers to keep reducing the pace of monthly asset purchases as the economy strengthens.

A rise in inflation is to be expected because “we’re already at very low levels, and unemployment has been falling,” said Michelle Meyer, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, speaking before the report. “Our forecast is that it’s a very slow-moving process.”

Estimates for the consumer-price index ranged from unchanged to a gain of 0.4 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey. They projected the core gauge would increase 0.1 percent.

2013 Increase

Consumer prices rose 1.5 percent in 2013, the smallest calendar year gain in three years, after a 1.7 percent year- over-year advance in 2012. The core CPI climbed 1.7 percent over the past 12 months, also the smallest annual increase since 2010.

Another report today showed fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign the labor market continues to strengthen.

Jobless claims decreased by 2,000 to 326,000 in the week ended Jan. 11, the least since the end of November, from a revised 328,000 in the prior period, according to Labor Department figures. The median forecast of 51 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 328,000.

Stock-index futures held earlier losses after the reports. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index maturing in March dropped 0.2 percent to 1,837.9 at 8:32 a.m. in New York.

The consumer-price report showed energy costs increased 2.1 percent from a month earlier, the most since June.

Gasoline Prices

Pump prices ticked up in December after hitting their lowest level since 2011 in November. Still, a drop in regular unleaded gasoline costs in the final quarter of 2013 may have given households more to spend on other goods and services.

Food costs rose 0.1 percent. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is paying attention to higher food prices. Chief Financial Officer John R. Hartung said that the company has seen “inflation creep in” starting in the second half of 2012, and despite improvement in early 2013, food costs are at the higher end of their usual range.

As a result, the Denver, Colorado-based company is thinking “that 2014, not earlier than the middle of the year, that we may raise prices,” Hartung said in a Jan. 14 presentation.

Owners-equivalent rent, one of the categories designed to track housing prices, rose 0.2 percent.

Clothing prices increased 0.9 percent in December, the biggest gain since June, today’s report showed.

Drug Costs

Medical-care costs were a weak spot in the data, with commodities such as prescription drugs falling 0.8 percent last month, the biggest decrease in data going back to 1967.

Other Labor Department figures today showed the increase in total prices hurt worker pay. Hourly earnings adjusted for inflation dropped 0.3 percent in December and were up 0.2 percent over the past year.

As American consumers buy more, it could push prices closer to the Fed’s target. Consumer prices rose 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier, according to the personal consumption expenditures deflator, an inflation measure watched by the Fed. The central bank aims for inflation of about 2 percent.

Slow price increases may cause Fed officials to remain cautious as the central bank tapers its unprecedented asset purchases. The bank’s $85 billion monthly buying pace slackened to $75 billion this month.

Fed’s Evans

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans, who has supported record stimulus, said Jan. 15 that the central bank’s slowdown should be seen as a shift in emphasis toward keeping interest rates near zero for a longer time -- partly because of still-low price pressures.

“We will not prematurely reduce accommodation in an economy with elevated unemployment and very low inflation pressures,” Evans said. The U.S. added 74,000 jobs last month, fewer than the most pessimistic projection in a Bloomberg survey, a Labor Department report showed Jan. 10.

The CPI is the broadest of three price gauges from the Labor Department because it includes goods and services. About 60 percent of the index covers prices consumers pay for services from medical visits to airline fares, movie tickets and rents.

Wholesale prices climbed 0.4 in December, according to Labor Department data released last week. December import prices were unchanged from November, when they fell more than initially reported, data showed Jan. 14.