Wholesale inflation accelerates more than expected in January

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Former Assistant Treasury Secretary Monica Crowley discusses the strain inflation is having on the middle and lower class on 'The Bottom Line.'

Inflation at the wholesale level rose much more than expected in January, underscoring the challenge of taming price pressures within the economy. 

The Labor Department said Friday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, jumped 0.3% in January from the previous month. On an annual basis, prices remain up 0.9%.

Those figures are both higher than the 0.1% monthly gain and the 0.6% annual figure predicted by Refinitiv economists.

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In another sign that points to the stickiness of high inflation, core prices — which exclude the more volatile measurements of food and energy — surged 0.5% for the month. That is higher than both the 0.1% estimate and the flat reading recorded last month. 

The figure was up 2% on a 12-month basis.

The data comes three days after the Labor Department said the more closely watched consumer price index, which measures the prices paid directly by consumers, rose 0.3% in January from the previous month and 3.1% from the same time last year, far faster than economists anticipated.  

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A customer shops for meat at a Safeway store in San Rafael, California, on April 12, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Both releases are considered to be important measurements of inflation, with the PPI believed to be a leading indicator of inflationary pressures as costs work their way down to consumers. The different gauges point to inflation that is still