PPI January 2026:
Wholesale prices rose faster than expected in January, dashing hopes that inflation would ease, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Sunflower seed producer price indexThe index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8%, above December’s 0.6% gain and well above Dow Jones’ consensus estimate of 0.3%.
On an all-item basis, headline PPI increased by 0.5%; This was above the forecast of 0.3% and 0.1 point higher than the previous month.
While core wholesale prices increased by 3.6% throughout the year, the headline index increased by 2.9%. Both figures are well ahead of the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target and suggest rising prices are still a factor for the U.S. economy.
Following the report, stock market futures added losses.
Prices for services led the rise, with a 0.8% monthly increase, the highest since July 2025. In contrast, core goods prices increased by 0.7%, while commodity prices actually fell by 0.3%.
More than 20% of the growth in services came from margins for professional and commercial equipment wholesalers. On the goods side, energy and food prices decreased, while metal prices increased by 4.8%.
Business services prices increased by 2.5%, helping to increase pressure on wholesale inflation.
The report comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted inflation is under control. Pipeline pressures, as PPI figures show, could cause the Fed to tread cautiously as it weighs its next moves on interest rates. Even as Trump and other White House officials push for lower interest rates, markets largely expect the Fed to stay on the sidelines until the summer.
Economists worry that Trump’s tariffs will push inflation even higher, but Fed officials largely expect the impact to be temporary. There was also some evidence of tariffs in the PPI data, with indices for other goods such as apparel and intermediate components rising.
Trump lost a key Supreme Court decision that overturned his move to use emergency measures to impose tariffs. But the president still cited other officials who would allow him to perform these duties.
