The prices businesses pay to each other took a sharp turn higher in January, new data showed Friday, indicating that more tariff-related price increases could be still to come.
The Producer Price Index rose 0.5% last month, a pickup from December’s 0.4% rate, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The annual rate of inflation nudged down to 2.9% from 3%.
Economists were expecting wholesale inflation to increase by 0.3%, which would have resulted in a 2.6% annual rate.
US stocks moved sharply lower Friday morning, with investors fearing the hotter-than-expected inflation report could lead the Federal Reserve to