Inflation Pushes Wholesales Prices Up 8.6%, Tying Highest Level On Record

Wholesale prices in the U.S. reached a historic high after rising 8.6% over the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

On Tuesday, the department released new data for its Producer Price Index (PPI) that showed it rose as projected at 0.6% in October, slightly ahead of the 0.5% in September.

The prices for wholesale goods, like food or other household items, rose sharply year-to-year in the latest sign that supply chain problems are continuing to take their toll on U.S. consumers and retailers.

The figure is the highest recorded since the Labor Department began collecting PPI data in 2010. This data also arrives a day before the department shares its findings on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation indicator that looks at the level of price hikes for everyday goods like food and energy.

Prices for services were slightly higher at 0.2% from September.

Inflation, long subdued in the U.S., has surged in the last year largely owing to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of depressed economic activity that can be traced to the virus, a recovery has been underway that has seen businesses come back to life and demand explode along with it.

The Biden administration and the Federal Reserve have been cautious about the rise in inflation and have taken steps to address it.

Last month, President Joe Biden pledged to make reducing ongoing supply chain bottlenecks and cutting down a shipping backlog a priority. He has announced partnerships with private companies to keep deliveries from U.S. ports operational 24/7 and get goods to market.

The Federal Reserve has cut back on its multibillion-dollar monthly asset purchases after its quarterly meeting last week. Starting this month, the central bank will begin gradually reducing its purchases by an additional $15 billion every month.

However, the Fed’s previous view that inflation is likely to be transitory has remained intact. It made clear that it was pursuing this gradualist approach to reducing its asset buying, but has insisted it can adjust this quickly if economic conditions call for it.

The Fed did not raise interest rates in its last announcement to ward off inflation. Chairman Jerome Powell insisted the conditions were not yet ripe to do so, but the central bank forecasted that it may not raise rates until the end of 2022.