Wholesale prices take big jump

Led by costlier gas, food and chemicals, U.S. wholesale prices surged 0.6 percent in October, the biggest month-to-month rise in six years. Yet excluding items that tend to fluctuate sharply from month to month, inflation pressures remain tame.

The jump in the producer price index, which measures prices before they reach consumers, followed a smaller 0.2 percent increase in September. Compared with 12 months earlier, producer prices rose a sharp 2.9 percent in October.

But when food, energy and other volatile categories are excluded, socalled core wholesale prices rose only a modest 0.2 percent in October.

Higher prices for services such as transportation and warehousing drove most of October’s overall increase in wholesale prices.