Shoppers at a mall in Los Angeles in 2024. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says producer prices fell in August.FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in August, pulled down by a decline in the costs of services.
The Producer Price Index for final demand dipped 0.1 per cent after a downwardly revised 0.7 per cent jump in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI would advance 0.3 per cent after a previously reported 0.9 per cent surge in July.
Services prices fell 0.2 per cent after rebounding 0.7 per cent in July. Goods prices edged up 0.1 per cent after increasing 0.6 per cent in the prior month. In the 12 months through August, the PPI increased 2.6 per cent after climbing 3.1 per cent in July.
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Economists are expecting price pressures from tariffs to lift consumer inflation in August.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates next Wednesday, with a quarter-percentage-point reduction fully priced in, after pausing its easing cycle in January because of uncertainty over the impact of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The anticipated rate cut is mostly driven by labour market weakness, which has raised concerns that the economy was stagnating.
The government estimated on Tuesday that the economy likely created 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated. That data followed the release last Friday of the monthly employment report, which showed job growth almost stalled in August and the economy shed jobs in June for the first time in four and a half years.