Prices rose 1.4% in April over the previous month, far above March’s revised gain of 0.7% and economists' expectations for an increase of 0.5% on the month, Yahoo news reported.
Excluding the more volatile food and energy costs, producer prices advanced by 1% over the previous month, more than double the 0.3% growth economists had predicted and well above the previous month's revised gain of 0.2%.
On an annual basis, headline prices rose by 6% in April, above estimates of 4.8% and the previous month's 4.3% year-over-year increase. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.2% year over year, hotter than estimates of 4.3% and the previous month's 4% revised gain.
The numbers come after consumer prices also increased more than expected in April. The Consumer Price Index published by the BLS on Monday showed prices were 3.8% higher than a year ago — the largest annual increase in three years — and up 0.6% on a monthly basis, largely due to soaring energy costs.
Economists had expected a rise of 3.7% from last April, according to a Bloomberg survey, and a 0.6% increase from March, which itself saw the largest monthly gain since 2022.
Energy prices rose 3.8% from the previous month after March showed a 10.9% monthly jump. The overall energy index was 17.9% higher than a year ago, while the index for gasoline rose 28.4%.
The two sets of economic data will likely complicate decision making at the Federal Reserve just as Kevin Warsh is set to be confirmed as the new chairman of the US central bank.
Roughly a third of traders now see at least one quarter-point rate hike coming by the Fed’s December meeting, according to data from the CME, with less than 3% of traders seeing a rate cut on the horizon by the end of the year.
The Federal Reserve governors will get one more set of CPI and PPI data before their next meeting on June 16 and 17.