Consumer inflation in the United States held steady in July, data showed Tuesday, but underlying price increases picked up as President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs ripple through the world's biggest economy.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent from a year ago in July, the same rate as in June, said the Department of Labor.

But, excluding the volatile food and energy segments, "core" CPI accelerated to 0.3 percent on a month-on-month basis last month, up from a 0.2-percent rise before, the CPI report said.

From a year ago, underlying inflation rose 3.1 percent, picking up pace too.

Analysts are closely watching CPI amid increasing fears over the reliability of economic data from the Trump administration, which fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently aft

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