April wholesale prices jump 0.6%, led by higher food costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices rose a higher-than-expected 0.6% in April, driven by a rise in food costs. It was further evidence that inflation pressures are starting to mount as the country re-opens.

The increase in the producer price index, which measures inflationary pressures before they reach consumers, was double the 0.3% gain that economists had been forecasting. The increase, reported Thursday by the Labor Department, followed a sizable 1% advance in March.

Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 6.2%, the largest advance since the data was first calculated in 2010.

The report on wholesale inflation came a day after the government reported that consumer prices shot up 0.8% in April, the largest monthly jump in more than a decade, with one-third of the gain attributed to a record 10% increase in used car prices.

Federal Reserve officials including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell insist that the recent price increases will be temporary as the economy re-opens and not a sign that inflation is getting out of control.

But inflation worries have been blamed for steep declines in the stock market as investors worry that rising prices will eventually force the central bank to abandon its ultra-low interest rate policies put in place to support the economy after pandemic shutdowns forced millions of people out of their jobs last year.

Martin Crutsinger, The Associated Press