October producer prices rise 0.3% on higher energy, food costs

Inflation remained nearly inert at the wholesale level, as producer prices rose just 0.3% in October, the U.S. Labor Department announced Tuesday, with rising food and energy prices offsetting a sharp decline in other items. Excluding the often-volatile food and energy component, producer prices fell -0.6% in October.

The consensus from the Bloomberg News survey of economists had been that producer prices would increase 0.5% in October; they fell 0.6% in September. Economists also had expected the core rate to rise 0.1% in October after decreasing 0.1% in September.