Wholesale Inflation Also Tops Estimates

Transmission lines and electricity infrastructure in Hilliard, Ohio. Credit: Brian Kaiser/Bloomberg.

U.S. wholesale prices rose in January by more than forecast on higher food and energy costs, highlighting that the nation had made only limited progress on inflation ahead of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

The producer price index (PPI) for final demand climbed 0.4 percent from a month earlier, following an upwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in December, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.3 percent gain. Compared with a year ago, the PPI increased 3.5 percent.