U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected in February, according to the Associated Press, driven partly by a sharp increase in food costs.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index rose 0.7% from January and 3.4% from February 2025. The year-over-year increase was the most since February 2025.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called “core” wholesale prices rose 0.5% from January, down from a 0.8% gain the month before but more than twice what economists had expected. Compared with a year earlier, core prices rose 3.9%, the biggest jump since January 2025.
Food prices rose 2.4% from January, led by a 49% surge in vegetable prices and a 10% increase in fruit prices.
The newest economic indicator arrived on the same day that policymakers at the Federal Reserve are meeting in Washington to decide what to do about the nation’s benchmark interest rate. The rate was cut three times last year with inflation seemingly slowing, but the Fed has since stopped cutting — and it’s expected to announce Wednesday that it’s done so again.
