The producer-price index, a measure of the prices businesses receive for their goods and services, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% on the month.

Excluding the often-volatile food and energy categories, producer prices were up a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in December.

Nearly half of the December increase was attributable to gasoline prices, which jumped 16.1%, the Labor Department said.

Compared with December 2019, the overall PPI rose 0.8%, with prices trending up since September, after declining in the spring and summer. Excluding food and energy, the index increased 1.2% from a year earlier.

The producer-price measure typically tracks the same as other inflation gauges, though it does not always translate into what consumers pay. A gauge of prices paid by the average American, the consumer-price index, grew a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month.

--An artificial-intelligence tool was used in creating this article.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 15, 2021 09:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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