U. S. wholesale inflation surges to new record

The inflationary uptrend in the United States is still dominating according to the Producer Price Index. The PPI surged 8.6 percent in September from the same period a year ago. That’s the biggest jump on records dating back to 2010.

Producer prices rose only 0.5 percent in September. That was lower than many were expecting and the lowest month-over-month increase this year.

The big driver of the jump in wholesale inflation last month was energy prices, which are currently on an upward tear, thanks to global shortages of oil, natural gas, and coal.

U. S. final demand for energy in September rose 2.8 percent; which accounted for a full 40 percent of the broad-based advance in producer prices. On a more rough level, prices of gasoline rose 3.9 percent last month.

When goods producers and service providers are faced with higher prices, they often pass those costs on to consumers.