Customers shop for groceries at a Costco store on December 11, 2024 in Novato, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that a measure of wholesale prices rose more than expected in November, adding to the belief that progress in lowering inflation has slowed.
the Producer price indexwhich measures what producers get for their products at the final order stage, rose 0.4% during the month, higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 0.2%. On an annual basis, the producer price index rose 3%, the largest advance since February 2023.
However, excluding food and energy, the core Producer Price Index rose 0.2%, in line with expectations. The introduction of commercial services also left the Producer Price Index rise at just 0.1%.
In other economic news Thursday, the Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled a seasonally adjusted 242,000 for the week ending Dec. 7, well above expectations of 220,000 and up 17,000 from the prior period.
On the inflation front, the news was mixed.
Prices of goods on final demand jumped by 0.7% on a monthly basis. The biggest move since February this year. About 80% of the move came from a 3.1% rise in food prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the food category, chicken eggs rose by 54.6%, joining the overall acceleration in items such as dry vegetables, fresh fruits and poultry. Egg prices at the retail level swelled 8.2% month over month and were up 37.5% from a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a separate report Wednesday on consumer prices.
The PPI release comes one day after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the Consumer Price Index, a widely cited measure of inflation, also rose in November to 2.7% on a 12-month basis and 0.3% on a monthly basis.
Despite the seemingly stubborn inflation situation, markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to cut its key overnight borrowing rate next week. Futures market traders point to near certainty of a quarter-point cut when the interest-rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee concludes its meeting on Wednesday.
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