WASHINGTON (AP) -- The biggest jump in gasoline prices in five months contributed to another elevated reading on consumer prices in October. With pump prices surging still, inflation is expected to be even worse in November.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent last month. It was the second straight month at that level after prices had fallen by 0.1 percent in August and risen by 0.1 percent in July.

Economists said consumers should brace for a worse performance in November, given an even bigger increase in gasoline prices so far this month.

Labor Department economist Patrick Jackman said gasoline alone could add four-tenths of a percentage point to overall inflation in November. Surveys pump prices closing in on the record of $3.23 per gallon set last August.

This week, gasoline hit $3.11, according to a survey by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. A month ago it was $2.78. Last week, crude oil prices briefly traded at an all-time high of $98 per barrel.

Economists are concerned that rising energy prices will leave consumers with less money to spend on

SEATTLE (AP) -- Starbucks Corp. said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 35 percent, despite a slowdown in store openings and a drop in U.S. traffic.
Shares plummeted in after-hours trading.

For the 13 weeks ended Sept. 30, the world's largest chain of coffee houses posted net earnings of $158.5 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $117.3 million, or 15 cents a share for the same period last year.

Quarterly revenue was $2.44 billion, up from $2 billion last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were projecting 21 cents a share on $2.43 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales, a key measure of a retailer's health, increased 4 percent, toward the low end of the company's guidance.

In the United States, sales at stores open at least 13 months rose on a 5 percent increase in transaction value, which partially offset a 1 percent drop in traffic -- the first decrease since the company started

Come retirement, most of us will be faced with two important decisions: what to do with our 401(k) or IRA money and how best to spend an abundance of free time. Some dream of adventurous vacations or beachside villas, others want to devote their days to a favorite charity. Some, no doubt, will while away hours on the golf course. However, for a growing number weaned on CNBC, E*Trade and buoyant bull markets, retirement will mean a chance to finally pursue a “second career,” actively managing their own money.

Of course, playing money manager with one's nest egg is not without risks. Take Nancy Wells, 62, a former manager for Pacific Bell who said good-bye to her life as a “corporate road warrior” at age 54 after 28 years. In 1999, just as everyone around her was getting rich on Internet stocks, Wells opted for early retirement and rolled her 401(k) into an IRA, which she planned to parlay into a fortune.

Having read Jane Bryant Quinn's Making the Most of Your Money in the mid 1990s, Wells's plan was to live off of her investments until her defined benefit pension kicked in. However, like thousands of other investors in Internet bubble stocks, Wells's plan backfired. By mid-2002 she had lost 40% of her IRA