Consumer prices rise 1 percent from August to October

Herald staff

SEATTLE — Consumer prices in the Seattle Metropolitan area, including Snohomish County, rose 1 percent from August to October, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Higher costs for housing, food and clothing were mostly responsible for the increase, officials said. Medical care was the only major category to decline.

Year to date, prices have increased 4.4 percent, compared with 3.1 percent for the same period last year.

The Consumer Price Index for the region rose to 182.1, meaning a market basket of goods and services that cost $100 in the 1982-84 period cost $182.10 in October.

Coke pays up: The Coca-Cola Co. will give black workers $147 million as part of the largest racial discrimination settlement ever Thursday, and also agreed to have a new watchdog panel help oversee the company’s employment practices. The agreement includes a $113 million cash settlement and $43.5 million in salary adjustments over the next decade.

News site retrenches: Struggling financial news site TheStreet.com announced a sweeping cost-cutting program Thursday that includes slashing 20 percent of its work force, shutting down its United Kingdom operation and dismantling a joint newsroom with The New York Times.

New tax laws signed: President Clinton signed tax legislation that he said should avert a trade war with the European Union, meeting a Friday deadline to replace a U.S. export tax system invalidated by the World Trade Organization. If he had not acted, the EU could have begun imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that have been estimated at $4 billion.

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