Wholesale inflation stays hot as PPI beats expectations in January
U.S. producer prices rose 0.5% in January, hotter than the 0.3% consensus and December’s revised gain, with the year-over-year PPI at 2.9% and core PPI up 0.8% MoM (3.6% YoY). The report shows persistent wholesale inflation, as final-demand services jumped 0.8% (led by trade services) while final-demand goods fell 0.3% (energy and food declines, with gasoline driving much of the drop). This could feed into consumer prices in coming months, even as CPI appeared cooler in January.