Energy Pushes Producer Prices Up
Enviado: 11/7/2003 14:01Energy Pushes Producer Prices Up
Friday, July 11, 2003 8:36 a.m. ET Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sharp rise in energy costs pushed U.S. wholesale prices up at a steeper-than-expected rate last month but a closely watched gauge of core inflation eased slightly, the government said on Friday.
The Producer Price Index, which measures prices paid at the farm and factory gate, rose 0.5 percent in June, the Labor Department said. But it said much of that gain could be pinned on a steep 3.4 percent increase in energy prices.
Excluding food and energy, the so-called core PPI actually fell 0.1 percent, showing an absence of underlying inflation pressures that could keep alive fears of deflation -- a broad fall in consumer prices. The cost of food at the wholesale level rose 0.4 percent.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected producer prices to rise 0.2 percent, with the core rate up 0.1 percent.
Friday, July 11, 2003 8:36 a.m. ET Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sharp rise in energy costs pushed U.S. wholesale prices up at a steeper-than-expected rate last month but a closely watched gauge of core inflation eased slightly, the government said on Friday.
The Producer Price Index, which measures prices paid at the farm and factory gate, rose 0.5 percent in June, the Labor Department said. But it said much of that gain could be pinned on a steep 3.4 percent increase in energy prices.
Excluding food and energy, the so-called core PPI actually fell 0.1 percent, showing an absence of underlying inflation pressures that could keep alive fears of deflation -- a broad fall in consumer prices. The cost of food at the wholesale level rose 0.4 percent.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected producer prices to rise 0.2 percent, with the core rate up 0.1 percent.