U.S. consumer prices recorded their biggest increase in six months in October on rising gasoline costs and rents, suggesting a pickup in inflation that potentially clears the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December. Prospects for a rate hike next month also got a boost from other data on Thursday showing first-time applications for unemployment benefits tumbling to a 43-year low last week and housing starts surging to a nine-year high in October. "Today's data give the Fed more evidence to support a rate hike next month," said Alan MacEachin, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union. "The only thing standing in the way at this point would be a disastrous jobs report in early December, a remote possibility at best." Read the original story from Reuters.