Consumer prices, which have been surging over the past 12 months at the fastest pace in 17 years, should start to slow now that energy prices are retreating.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release its August Consumer Price Index at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The expectation is that report will show that consumer prices edged down a slight 0.1 percent last month, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

A decline would be a significant change from the past two months when prices jumped by 0.8 percent in July and an even larger 1.1 percent in June. Those gains left prices rising by 5.6 percent over the past year, the biggest 12-month increase since the period ending in January 1991.

Those gains were fueled by a surge in energy prices this year. But oil, which hit an all-time high of $147 per barrel in mid-July, closed below $100 per barrel on Monday for first time in six months.

Economists are also looking for core inflation, which excludes food and energy, to show moderation in August as well with the expectation those prices will rise by 0.2 percent, down slightly from a 0.3 percent increase in July.

The information on consumer prices will be released just before officials of the Federal Reserve meet for a regularly scheduled session to review interest rates.

Economists had expected the Fed to leave rates unchanged but with the recent upheaval in financial markets, some economists believe the chances of a rate cut could be increasing. They say if the Fed does not cut rates on Tuesday, they may signal in their statement that they are prepared to do so, possibly at an emergency meeting, should financial markets not stabilize in coming days.