Wholesale prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace in January, countering hopes that inflation is easing, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The core producer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8%, more than a 0.6% gain in December and ahead of the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 0.3%.
On an all-items basis, headline PPI rose 0.5%, ahead of forecasts of 0.3% and 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.
For the full year, core wholesale prices accelerated 3.6%, while the headline index posted a 2.9% gain. Both figures are well ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target and suggest that rising prices are still a factor in the US economy.
Stock market prospects added to the losses after the report.
Services prices primarily led the increase, with a 0.8% monthly rise, the highest since July 2025. In contrast, commodity prices actually fell 0.3%, although core commodity prices rose 0.7%.
More than 20% of the increase in services came from professional and commercial equipment wholesale margins. On the commodities side, energy and food prices both fell, while metals prices rose 4.8%.
Prices of business services rose 2.5%, helping to add pressure on wholesale inflation.
The report comes as President Donald Trump repeatedly insists that inflation has been tamed. Pipeline pressures suggested by the PPI figures could keep the Fed on guard as it weighs its next moves on interest rates. Markets largely expect the Fed to remain on the sidelines through the summer despite Trump and other White House officials pushing for lower rates.
Economists worry that Trump’s tariffs will boost inflation, though Fed officials expect the impact to be temporary. While there is some evidence of a tariff in the PPI data, other goods such as apparel indices and intermediate components are moving higher.
Trump lost a key Supreme Court ruling that overturned his move to use emergency measures to implement the tariffs. However, the President has referred to other officers who are allowed to execute the duties anyway.
(tags to translate) Breaking News: Politics
