Producer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of September, the Labor Department revealed in a report released on Wednesday.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.5 percent in September after advancing by 0.7 percent in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.4 percent.
The producer price growth was partly due to a continued surge in energy prices, which spiked by 3.3 percent in September after skyrocketing by 10.3 percent in August.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 2.2 percent in September from a revised 2.0 percent in August.
Economists had expected the pace of price growth to come in unchanged compared to the 1.6 percent originally reported for the previous month.
