By Geoffrey Smith

-- U.S. headline inflation slowed again last month but core prices continued to rise at an uncomfortably fast pace.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the consumer price index rose by 0.4% in February, a slowdown from 0.5% in January. The annual rate of inflation fell to 6.0% from 6.4%, and is now down by one-third from its peak of over 9% in June last year. Even so, it remains at three times the Federal Reserve's targeted rate of 2%.

Stripped of volatile fuel and energy components, core prices rose by a chunky 0.5%, an acceleration from 0.4% the prior month. The annual core rate consequently slowed much less than the headline rate, falling to 5.5% from 5.6% in January.