U.S. wholesale price increases mostly slowed last month, according to the Associated Press, in the latest evidence that inflation pressures are cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates next week.
The Labor Department said today that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.2% from July to August. That was up from an unchanged reading a month earlier, but measured from a year ago, prices were up 1.7% in August, the smallest such rise since February and down from a 2.1% annual increase in July.
Excluding food and energy prices, which tend to fluctuate from month to month, so-called “core” wholesale prices moved up 0.3% from July and have risen 2.3% from August 2023.
Taken as a whole, last month’s wholesale price figures suggest that inflation is moving back toward the Fed’s 2% target level. After peaking at a four-decade high in mid-2022, the prices of gas, groceries, and autos are either falling or rising at slower pre-pandemic rates.
