Wholesale prices in the United States rose 6% in January from a year earlier, decelerating for a seventh straight month. But on a month-to-month basis, prices reaccelerated in January, indicating that inflation pressures continue to underlie the U.S. economy, according to a report from the Associated Press.
The latest year-over-year wholesale inflation figure was down from 6.5% in December and from a recent peak of 11.7% in March. From December to January, though, the government’s producer price index jumped 0.7%, driven up in part by a 5% surge in energy prices. That compared with a 0.2% drop from November to December, and it was nearly twice the increase that economists were expecting.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation was up 5.4% in January from a year earlier and 0.5% from December to January. The producer price data measures inflation before it reaches consumers. It reflects prices charged by manufacturers, farmers, and wholesalers, and it flows into an inflation gauge that the Federal Reserve closely tracks. The data can provide an early sign of how fast consumer inflation will rise.
