The numbers: The cost of wholesale goods and services jumped 1.1% in June, signaling inflation has spread more deeply in the economy and won’t be easy to eradicate.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.8% gain.
The increase in wholesale prices over the past 12 months rose to 11.3% from 10.9%, the government said Thursday. Just a year and a half ago, prices were rising at a less than 2% pace.
A day earlier, the government also reported that the prices consumers pay directly had risen 9.1% in the past 12 months — the biggest increase in almost 41 years.
If food and gas and trade margins are omitted, so-called core producer prices rose just 0.3% in June. Yet inflation in the earlier stages of production suggest price pressures are still intense.
Big picture: Wholesale and consumer prices are likely ease in July if the recent decline in oil sticks, but make no mistake: High inflation is here to stay for a while.
The Federal Reserve is trying to squelch inflation by sharply raising interest rates and slowing the economy, but the central bank runs the risk of causing a recession if it’s too aggressive.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P 500
SPX,
were set to open sharply lower in Thursday trades.
