Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in June and were up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which the Commerce Department released on Thursday. “Core” prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs to give a more reliable read of the underlying pace of inflation, also rose 0.3 percent from the prior month and were up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, when President Biden was being criticized for not doing enough about inflation.