WASHINGTON - Producer prices rose 0.8% in January, led by a 1.8% increase in prices for finished energy goods, while core prices that exclude food and energy goods rose 0.5%, the third consecutive gain, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
Economists were on target, expecting producer prices to rise 0.8%, but fell far short on the gain in core prices, projecting an increase of only 0.2%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The 0.8% January gain in producer prices followed an unrevised 0.9% increase in December. Core prices rose 0.2% in December.
The 1.8% gain in prices for finished energy goods in January was the fourth consecutive monthly increase and was mostly attributable to a 6.9% advance in gasoline prices. Increases in the indexes for diesel fuel and home heating oil also contributed to higher finished energy goods prices, according to the department.
Meanwhile, finished consumer foods prices were up 0.3% in January, the fifth consecutive monthly increase, led by a 13.7% gain in prices for fresh and dry vegetables.
Nearly 40% of the January increase in prices for finished goods excluding food and energy can be traced to the index for pharmaceutical preparations, which moved up 1.4%, the department said.
