Wholesale prices doubled from expected levels in January as inflationary pressures did not subside at the start of the year, the Labor Department said on Tuesday, the Labor Department said.
The producer price index, which measures demand for final goods and services, rose 1% for the month, compared with a Dow Jones estimate of 0.5%. Over the past 12 months, the index has gained 9.7 percent unadjusted, close to a record in data from 2010.
Excluding food, energy and commercial services, the so-called core PPI rose 0.9% on the month, well ahead of the 0.4% estimate. For 12-month terms, this measure increased by 6.9%. Both core and headline PPI gains for the year were 0.1 percentage points lower than the record levels hit in December 2021.
As has been the case for much of the pandemic era, the price of goods outweighed the price of services, up 1.3% and 0.7% respectively.
The increase comes amid rising inflation across the economy, with consumer prices at a 40-year high.
Federal Reserve officials plan to act soon to curb the rise in prices, with rate hikes expected to begin in March and continue throughout the year.
The final on-demand energy price rose 2.5% in January, while food prices rose 1.6%.
A separate report Tuesday morning showed manufacturing activity in the New York area was little changed in February. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey, conducted by the New York Fed, registered a figure of 3.1, up from -0.7 in January but below the 11 estimate.
The measure represents the percentage difference between companies reporting expansion versus those reporting contraction.
New orders and hiring increased significantly, but they were mainly affected by the deterioration of general business conditions and new orders. Inflation also showed in that report, with the price index received soaring 17 points as 58.6% of companies reported staffing costs while only 4.5% reported a decline.
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