NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer prices rose in February, the government said Friday, driven in part by a surge in gasoline and other energy costs.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index, the government's main inflation gauge, rose 0.6 percent in February after rising 0.3 percent in January, while the so-called core CPI, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1 percent, matching January's gain.

The gain in CPI, the biggest since January 2001's 0.6 percent gain, was driven by a 5.9 percent rise in energy prices, which included a 9.9 percent jump in gasoline prices, the biggest one-month gain since June 2000's 10.5 percent rise.

Economists, on average, expected CPI to rise 0.5 percent and core CPI to rise 0.2 percent, according to a recent Reuters poll.

The report had little impact on U.S. stock futures, which moved higher, pointing to a positive opening on Wall Street. Treasury bond prices fell.

The CPI report could soothe the fears of some economists that the sluggish U.S. economy is flirting with an episode of deflation, an unstoppable slide in prices that cripples corporate profits and undercuts economic growth. Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has struggled with deflation for years.

Crude oil and gasoline prices rose ever higher through February, pushed by concerns about a looming war with Iraq. Now that war has actually started, oil prices have plunged, and gasoline prices -- which recently touched record highs -- should follow.

Not only gasoline prices rose in February, however. Food prices jumped 0.7 percent, the biggest gain since June 1996's 0.7 percent gain, and housing costs rose 0.3 percent.