Wholesale Inflation Jumps to Highest Level in 11 Months

Wholesale inflation accelerated in March, delivering a blow to the narrative that price pressures are easing and dimming hopes for an interest rate cut in the near future. Inflation from the perspective of business input costs called the Producer Price Index (PPI), rose 2.1 percent in year-over-year terms in March, after a 1.6 percent reading the prior month, per Labor Department data released on April 11. Besides representing an acceleration in annual terms from the prior month, the March reading of 2.1 percent is the highest since April 2023, when it came in at 2.3 percent. The inflation index rose 0.2 percent in month-over-month terms in March, lower than the 0.6 percent notched in the prior month but an increase in prices nonetheless....