Grapevine

Wholesale prices were flat in September, below expectations

A measure of wholesale prices showed no change in September, pointing to a continued easing in inflation, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The producer price index, which measures what producers get for their goods and services, was flat for the month and up 1.8% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a monthly gain of 0.1% after August's increase of 0.2%.

Excluding food and energy, the PPI rose 0.2%, meeting expectations, and was up 2.8% from a year ago.

The report comes a day after the Labor Department reported that the consumer price index, a more widely followed inflation measure that shows what consumers actually pay for goods and services, had an increase of 0.2% for the month and 2.4% from a year ago.

Markets showed little immediate reaction to the data, with futures pointing slightly higher on Wall Street while Treasury yields rose on longer-duration securities. Stocks rose later in the session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding more than 300 points on the heels of strong bank earnings reports.

Together, the releases indicate that inflation is off its blistering pace that peaked more than two years ago but still mostly holds above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. While neither is the Fed's primary inflation gauge, they both feed into the personal consumption expenditures price index that policymakers prefer. Following the releases, multiple economists said they expect the PCE deflator to show an increase of about 0.2% or slightly more for the month when it is released near the end of October.