US consumer prices in December continued to rise at the fastest annual pace in almost 40 years, which could push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates earlier, the US Labor Department reported on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) last month rose 0.5 percent from the previous month and 7.0 percent from a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase since June 1982, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the department.

The latest data marked a new high after the CPI in November rose 0.8 percent from the previous month and 6.8 percent from a year earlier.