U.S. wholesale prices rose modestly last month from a year earlier, another sign that inflationary pressures remain mild, the Associated Press reports.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 2.6% in May 2024. Producer prices rose 0.1% from April to May after dropping 0.2% the month before.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, wholesale costs were up 0.1% from April and 3% from May 2024.
The readings were slightly lower than economists had forecast.
Wholesale energy prices were unchanged, although gasoline prices rose 1.6% from April after falling the month before. Food prices at the wholesale level ticked up 0.1% after dropping 0.9% in April. Egg prices, volatile because of the bird flu, rose 1.4% following a 39.3% drop in April. They are up 125% from May 2024.
Wholesale prices can offer an early look at where consumer inflation might be headed. Economists also watch it because some of its components, notably health care and financial services, flow into the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, index.
