A big dip in energy costs helped to keep U.S consumer inflation in check in last month.

The U.S. Labor Department said today its consumer-price index rose 0.1% in January after holding steady in December.

The core index, which excludes typically volatile food and energy items, rose 0.2%, the same rate as in December. Economists had called for a 0.2% increase in both the overall and core indexes.

The headline reading was held down by a 1.1% drop in energy prices, the second consecutive monthly decline of more than 1%. Energy prices fell 1.3% in December. Gasoline prices fell 2.1%, while prices for fuel oil dropped 5.2%, the biggest decline since May 2003.

But other major consumer categories posted gains: Food prices rose 0.1% despite a 12% free-fall in fruit and vegetable prices that was the steepest in more than a dozen years. Health-care costs rose 0.4% after posting 0.3% growth in December. Car prices jumped 0.7%, while prices of tobacco and smoking products rose 1.9% as manufacturers like Philip Morris marked up retail prices on a range of brands.

BMO Nesibtt Burns chief economist Sherry Cooper noted that today’s CPI report “is a bit better than expected, particularly in the wake of last week’s core PPI shocker.”

In a separate report, the Labor Department said the average weekly earnings of U.S. workers, adjusted for inflation, declined 0.2% in January after rising 0.5% the month before.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, but that gain was more than offset by a 0.3% decline in average weekly hours and a 0.1% increase in the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers.