Wholesale prices moved up less than expected while consumers kept up a heavy buying pace in November, according to economic data released Wednesday.
The producer price index, a measure of final demand prices that producers get in the marketplace, rose just 0.2% for the month, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was below the Dow Jones consensus for a 0.3% gain though one-tenth of a percentage point higher than October.
Excluding food and energy, core PPI was flat on the month against expectations for a 0.2% gain.
Though the monthly readings were soft, headline PPI was up 3% from a year ago, well ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Core PPI excluding trade services posted a 3.5% annual gain, the biggest 12-month move since March 2025, according to the BLS.
A 0.9% gain in goods prices fueled much of the PPI increase, with more than 80% attributable to a 4.6% jump in energy prices. Services prices were flat.
