U.S. producer prices climb 0.8% in June
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – U.S. wholesale prices jumped a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in June, mainly because of a spike in gasoline prices, the government said Friday. It was the biggest increase since last September and the second straight sharp gain. Energy prices shot up 2.9%, spearheaded by a 7.2% runup in the wholesale cost of gas. Food prices rose a much smaller 0.2%. Excluding the volatile categories of food and energy, so-called core wholesale prices rose 0.2%, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.5% rise in the overall producer price index and a 0.1% increase in core PPI. Over the past 12 months wholesale prices have risen an unadjusted 2.5%, the highest year-over-year increase since March 2012. Yet the more closely followed core rate was up just 1.7% in June, unchanged from the prior month. The Federal Reserve pays more attention to core inflation when making decisions on whether to raise or lower interest rates. The latest wholesale price report indicates that inflation remains contained in most sectors of the economy. Gas prices have alternated between sharp spikes and declines over the past few years.