The dollar rises higher, strengthening to a four-week high against the pound, after US data revealed consumer prices rose faster than expected in January. The Labor Department said overall prices rose 0.4 pct, slightly above the 0.3 pct rise expected by economists polled by Thomson's IFR Markets, and brings the annual rate of inflation to an unadjusted 4.3 pct. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 pct in January, slightly more than the 0.2 pct expected, and was up an unadjusted 2.5 pct year on year, and is the highest since Feb 2007. Paul Ashworth, US economist at Capital Economics said the data has "just made the Federal Reserve's job that much harder". "With the price of crude oil touching 100 usd a barrel yesterday the news on inflation isn't going to get any better for a few months yet," he added. US housing starts figures were also released by the Commerce Department and showed a modest rebound, rising 0.8 pct to a 1.012 mln unit annual rate, very slightly above Thomson IFR Markets' expectations for 1.010 mln units