The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, after rising 0.4% in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Inflation rose unexpectedly in January, with the Consumer Price Index rising 3% over the last 12 months, up from 2.9% in December. Forecasters had expected inflation to slow down, but prices for food, gas, and housing pushed the inflation rate out of the 2% range for the first time since May.

The producer price index for final demand climbed 0.4% from a month earlier, and that after an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. The data on wholesale prices comes just a day after a consumer price index report showed underlying inflation at its highest in more than a year.