Investing.com - Producer price inflation in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in January, while core prices also increased more than estimated, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Commerce Department said that producer prices inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, though the forecast was for a drop of 0.2% and after a 0.2% decline in December.
Year-over-year, the producer price index declined 0.2%, compared to expectations for a fall of 0.6% and following a drop of 1.0% in the preceding month.
The core producer price index moved up by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January, above forecasts for a gain of 0.1% and following a rise of 0.2% a month earlier.
Core producer prices rose at an annualized rate of 0.6% last month, also above expectations for 0.4% and after rising 0.3% 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.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1116 from around 1.1142 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4287 from 1.4312 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 114.30 from 114.16 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.05, compared to 96.87 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 1.4%, the S&P 500 futures rose 1.0%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 1.0%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,206.80 a troy ounce, compared to $1,203.60 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $29.83 a barrel from $29.84 earlier.