US wholesale inflation climbed in October from a year earlier at the fastest pace since 2022, adding to evidence of persistent price pressures throughout the economy.
The producer price index rose 6.5% from October 2025, an acceleration from the prior month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Friday. On a monthly basis, the PPI increased 0.3%.
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The annual increase in the PPI illustrates how a supply-related surge this year in energy prices as well as robust demand are fanning inflationary pressures. The report showed another jump in transportation and warehousing costs, as well as higher food prices.
Excluding food and energy, wholesale prices climbed 5% from a year ago and 0.3% from September. Core goods costs rose by the most since May.
Figures earlier this week showed a gauge of underlying consumer inflation posted another firm advance during the month. Some Federal Reserve officials have signaled they may need to more aggressive with policy to bring down inflation.
The central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of their two-day meeting on Dec. 9.
Wholesale food prices rose 1.3% from a month earlier, the most since February. They have been climbing thanks to a combination of factors including the Middle East conflict and Russia-Ukraine war, as well as tariffs.
Transportation and warehousing costs climbed 2% after an even larger increase in September. Prices for truck transportation of freight jumped by the most since April, and are up nearly 25% from a year ago.
Energy prices, meanwhile, eased 0.1% in October after surging in the prior month.
Growth in services costs moderated as prices for trade services declined. A less-volatile PPI measure that excludes food, energy and trade services rose 0.5% from a month earlier and 4.9% from a year earlier.
Another firm increase in that gauge and rising transportation costs “will keep inflation risks front and center,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note. “Transportation costs are the channel through which energy prices bleed through into core goods prices.”
PCE Components
Several components of the PPI are also of particular interest to the Fed because they feed into its preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index.
The data pointed to a mixed picture, with airfares, hospital outpatient care and physician care rising. The costs of nursing home care and legal services fell.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is scheduled to release October PCE price data, along with income and spending figures, on Nov. 25.
The PPI report also provided updates on another source of inflation pressures — data centers. The prices of electronic components and accessories rose by the most since April and an index of broader construction costs increased. At the same time, computer equipment prices were little changed.
A measure of inflation pressures earlier in the production process — prices of processed goods for intermediate demand excluding food and energy — rose the most since May. Prices of plastic resins and materials, a key input for a vast array of consumer goods, increased by the most in five months.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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