Markets
October PPI Rose 0.3%, but the Annual Rate Hit 6.5%
US producer prices rose 0.3% in October 2026, under the 0.4% forecast, while the annual rate hit 6.5%, the highest since November 2022.
The monthly number was the good news. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday, November 13, that its producer price index for final demand rose 0.3% in October, seasonally adjusted, against a consensus forecast of 0.4%. September's jump was revised up to 1.4% from 1.3%. The less comfortable figure came from the unadjusted 12-month comparison: wholesale prices were 6.5% higher than a year earlier, up from 6.3% in September and the largest annual increase since November 2022, when the rate was 7.4%.
Goods did most of the lifting. Prices for final demand goods rose 0.5% after a 2.5% surge in September, and are 10.2% above their level of October 2025. Food was the standout, up 1.3% in a month. Energy slipped 0.1%, helped by a 7.9% fall in diesel fuel, which shows how much of the autumn's oil spike had already eased by October. Services rose 0.2%, the fifth advance in a row, but more than 80% of that came from one item: truck transportation of freight, up 3.9%. Trade margins, the markup wholesalers and retailers earn, fell 0.2%.
The measure economists watch for underlying pressure was firmer than the headline. Final demand excluding foods, energy and trade services rose 0.5% for a second straight month and is up 4.9% over the year. That gauge strips out the most erratic parts of the index, so a repeat 0.5% is harder to wave away as noise. It also matters for the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, the PCE price index, because some PPI components such as airfares and portfolio management fees feed directly into it.
Markets treated the report as no reason to change course. The 10-year Treasury yield rose about 5 basis points to 5.15%, ending a week in which it climbed roughly 30 basis points, and the 2-year edged up to 4.88%. The dollar index gained 0.25% to 103.43, near its strongest in 19 months. Two Fed officials, San Francisco's Mary Daly and Boston's Susan Collins, signalled support for further tightening on the same day, and CME FedWatch continued to show a quarter-point hike at the December 8–9 meeting as fully priced; prediction market Kalshi put it at 91.5%.
Stocks barely reacted to the data and spent the day on Nvidia instead. The S&P 500 fell 0.40% to 7,561.67, though it still gained 2.51% for the week, ending a run of four weekly declines.
October's report closes the pre-meeting run of price data. Consumer prices, published on Tuesday, rose 0.4% with a firm core, and producer prices now confirm that cost pressure in the pipeline has not peaked on an annual basis even as the monthly pace cools. The next PPI release, for November, is due on December 15, after the Fed has decided. Until then, the 0.5% core reading is the figure hawks will quote.