Wholesale prices rose 0.7% in February, much more than expected and up 3.4% annually
Last edited Wed Mar 18, 2026, 09:27 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: CNBC
Published Wed, Mar 18 2026 8:33 AM EDT Updated 11 Min Ago
Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy prices. The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core PPI increased 0.5%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures. For the all items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month. On a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February 2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS.
The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2%. Stock market futures slipped following the report while Treasury yields were higher. Futures traders pushed out the next Fed interest rate cut until at least December.
The surge in PPI came due in large part to a 0.5% increase in services costs, something the Fed would not welcome. Policymakers have attributed much of the recent run-up in inflation to tariffs, which would not show up as much on the services end. Portfolio management fees, a key driver for services costs within the PPI measurement, were up 1% in February. Similarly, prices for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice and related services accelerated 4.2%. Goods prices rose 1.1% on the month. Food prices rose 2.4% while energy was up 2.3%. Within food, the index for fresh and dry vegetables soared 48.9%.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/ppi-inflation-february-2026.html
From the source -
Link to tweet
@BLS_gov
PPI for final demand advances 0.7% in February; services rise 0.5%, goods increase 1.1% #BLSData https://bls.gov/news.release/archives/ppi_03182026.htm
8:30 AM · Mar 18, 2026
Article updated.
Previous articles/headline -
Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy prices. The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core PPI increased 0.5%. Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.5%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures. For the all items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month. On a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February 2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS. The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2%.
Stock market futures slipped following the report while Treasury yields were higher. Futures traders pushed out the next Fed interest rate cut until at least December.
The surge in PPI came due in large part to a 0.5% increase in services costs, something the Fed would not welcome. Policymakers have attributed much of the recent run-up in inflation to tariffs, which would not show up as much on the services end. Portfolio management fees, a key driver for services costs within the PPI measurement, were up 1% in February. Similarly, prices for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice and related services accelerated 4.2%. Goods prices rose 1.1% on the month. Food prices rose 2.4% while energy was up 2.3%. Within food, the index for fresh and dry vegetables soared 48.9%.
Wholesale prices rose 0.7% in February, much more than expected
Original article -
Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy prices.
The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core PPI increased 0.5%. Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.5%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures. For the all items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month. On a 12-month basis, PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February 2025, according to the BLS. The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2%.
The surge in PPI came due in large part to a 0.5% increase in services costs, something the Fed would not welcome. Policymakers have attributed much of the recent run-up in inflation to tariffs, which would not show up as much on the services end. Goods prices rose 1.1% on the month. Food prices rose 2.4% while energy was up 2.3%. Within food, the index for fresh and dry vegetables soared 48.9%.
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The producer price index was expected to increase 0.3% in February.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
# BLS SOURCE: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.nr0.htm
# PPI http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPSFD4
# PPI ex food, energy, and trade services http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPSFD49116
This is all pre-Iran war, which began February 28.
This is all pre-Iran war, which began February 28.
The BLS features the above two in their news release. The news release never mentions a PPI less food and energy.
Food, energy, and trade services are the volatile components
The trade services is very volatile:
See Table 1 in ppi.nr0.htm: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.t01.htm
Trade Services month-over-month percentage increases in the last 5 months were:
. . . -0.9% -0.5% +1.9% +2.2% +0.4%.
12 months: +5.2%
That's why they strip it out of their core measure (actually they never use the word "core" )
A "triple"!
