Investing.com - Producer price inflation in the U.S. came in under forecasts with an unchanged reading in October, while core prices unexpectedly fell, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Commerce Department said that October producer prices were unchanged from the previous month, missing the forecast for a 0.3% advance that matched September’s gain.
Year-over-year, the producer price index (PPI) rose 0.8%, compared to expectations for a gain of 1.2% and following a 0.7% increase in the preceding month.
The core producer price index, that excludes food and energy, fell by 0.2% in October, missing forecasts for a gain of 0.2% which was the reading a month earlier.
Core producer prices increased at an annualized rate of 1.2% last month, compared to expectations for an advance of 1.5% and after rising 1.2% in the preceding month.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. Furthermore, when producers pay more for goods, they are more likely to pass price increases on to the consumer, so PPI could be considered a leading indicator of inflation.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0711 from around 1.0709 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2441 from 1.2433 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.36 from 109.42 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.31, compared to 100.35 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures moved higher lower of the market open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.34%, the S&P 500 futures traded down 0.40%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.42%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,226.40 a troy ounce, compared to $1,225.65 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $45.44 a barrel from $45.36 earlier.