Producer Price Increases Match Highest Annual Rise on Record, Fanning Consumer Inflation Concerns

Sub-assembly worker Joel Dykema works on the sub-assembly of a transformer in the RoMan Manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Dec. 12, 2018. Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Producer prices rose in the 12 months through October at 8.6 percent, matching the prior month’s rate—the highest since 2008—and reinforcing broader concerns about inflation as higher production costs tend to trickle down to consumers.

The Labor Department said in a Nov. 9 statement that the producer price index (PPI) jumped by 8.6 percent year-over-year in October and 0.6 percent month-over-month, in both cases matching economists’ forecasts.