Led by rising gasoline costs, inflation rose 0.3 percent on an annual basis in December, according to a Thursday release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from no increase the month before and a slight drop in October.

The consumer price index, the most widely watched measure of inflation, showed year-over-year inflation of 1.5 percent for 2013. Stripping out energy and food prices, annual core inflation was flat at 1.7 percent.