PPI up 1.4%

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Wholesale prices in April rose the most in three years, signaling more nettlesome inflation as pipeline costs intensify.

The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% for the month, much higher than the 0.5% Dow Jones consensus forecast and the upwardly revised 0.7% March increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. This was the largest monthly gain since March 2022.

On an annual basis, the index was up 6%, the biggest increase since December 2022.

Excluding food and energy, core PPI accelerated 1%, compared to the 0.4% estimate. Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.6 %.

Energy was at the root of the unexpectedly high gain in producer prices, as it was for a surge in consumer prices that the BLS reported Tuesday.

For PPI, some three-quarters of the gain in goods prices stemmed from a 7.8% jump in final demand energy, the BLS said. More than 40% of that was traced to a 15.6% surge in gasoline, during a month when prices at the pump soared well past $4 a gallon as pressures from the Iran war hit the broader energy complex.

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