US producer prices rose for the third month in a row in December, increasing by 0.2 per cent on a surge in food prices and recording their largest year-on-year gain since October 2008, according to a government report today.
The annual gain of 4.4 per cent, though, was slightly below analyst expectations of a 4.5 per cent increase. On a month-on-month basis, analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated monthly prices paid at the farm and factory gate to remain unchanged in December.
The Labor Department said core prices, which exclude food and energy, were steady in December. Analysts had expected a 0.1 percent gain.
Reuters