Wholesale inflation, as measured by the producer price index, declined slightly to 0.9% for the year ending in January but was higher than expected.
The one-tenth of a percentage point decline came after an increase the month before. Most economists had forecast annual wholesale inflation would fall to 0.6%, so it isn’t welcome news for the economy, which has been strained under the burden of inflation.
On a month-to-month basis, the wholesale price index increased by 0.3%, more than expected.
The new wholesale inflation numbers come after an update to the consumer price for January was released earlier in the week, showing that inflation fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.1%. The decline, though, was less than what officials and economists had hoped for.
The decline in inflation over the course of 2023 generated optimism that the Fed will be able to pull off a “soft landing,”
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