Underlying US inflation – excluding food and energy – rose in November, as the Federal Reserve meets to decide whether to raise interest rates. Labor Department said its core Consumer Price Index increased 2 per cent last month. It was the third month that the core CPI increased by that much. US prices including fuel and food were up 0.5 per cent annually in November. US central bank's Federal Open Market Committee yesterday began a two day meeting to set rates. It targets 2 per cent inflation but uses the price index for personal consumption expenditures, or PCE index, which is running below the core CPI. Still, the Fed is expected to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate from near zero at the end of the meeting today, encouraged by a strengthening labour market.