Wholesale prices rose more than expected in September despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to control inflation, according to a report Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The producer price index, a measure of the prices U.S. businesses receive for the goods and services they produce, rose 0.4% on the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate of a gain of 0. 2%. On a 12-month basis, PPI rose 8.5%, down slightly from 8.7% in August.
Excluding food, energy and commercial services, the index rose 0.4% on the month and 5.6% from a year ago, the latter matching August’s gains; Excluding food and energy, PPI was flat in September.
Inflation has been the economy’s biggest problem over the past year as the cost of living is near its highest level in more than 40 years. The Fed has responded by raising rates five times this year for a total of 3 percentage points and is widely expected to make a fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point increase when the institution meets again in the coming weeks. three more weeks.
However, Wednesday’s data showed that the Fed still has a lot of work to do. Indeed, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester on Tuesday said “no progress has been made on inflation.”
The PPI release comes a day ahead of the more closely watched consumer price index. The two metrics differ in that PPI measures the price received at the wholesale level while CPI measures the price paid by consumers.
About two-thirds of the PPI increase was due to a 0.4% increase in services, the BLS said.
This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.
