US Producer Prices Top Forecasts on Higher Services Costs (3)

US wholesale prices rose by more than forecast in December, suggesting companies are increasingly passing on tariff costs at the risk of keeping inflationary pressures elevated.

The producer price index rose 0.5%, the most in three months, while an underlying gauge that strips out food and energy jumped at one of the fastest rates of the year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report out Friday also showed that annual price changes also rose firmly, defying economists’ expectations for an easing.

Services costs jumped as a measure of trade profit margins surged from a month earlier by the most since mid-2024. ...