Surge in Energy Prices Drives US PPI Data Soaring, Inflationary "Flames" Reignite in the US

Odaily Planet Daily News Under sustained pressure from upstream costs, the US annual PPI rate in April recorded its largest increase in over three years, with inflationary pressures re-emerging. Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Producer Price Index rose 1.4% month-over-month in April, significantly higher than the 0.5% expected in a Dow Jones survey and above the upwardly revised 0.7% in March. This marks the largest single-month increase since March 2022. Year-over-year, the April PPI rose 6%, the highest level since December 2022. Excluding food and energy, the core PPI rose 1% month-over-month, surpassing the expected 0.4%. After further stripping out food, energy, and trade services, the PPI still rose 0.6% month-over-month. Similar to the surge in CPI data released on Tuesday, energy prices were also the fundamental cause of the surprisingly large increase in the April PPI data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that within the PPI composition, about three-quarters of the increase in goods prices were driven by final demand energy prices, which rose 7.8% for the month. Over 40% of that increase could be attributed to a 15.6% surge in gasoline prices. During the month, impacted by the Iran conflict's effect on the entire energy sector, US gasoline prices had already far exceeded $4 per gallon. (Jin Shi)