US inflation at the wholesale level has cooled once again, this time landing below its pre-pandemic average.
The Producer Price Index showed that annual price increases seen by producers eased sharply to 1.1% for the 12 months ended in May, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's the 11th consecutive month that this inflation measure has decelerated.
On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.3%.
Economists were expecting a reading of 1.5% for the 12 months ended in May and a month-on-month retreat of 0.1%, according to Refinitiv estimates.
The May PPI, a key measure of inflation that feeds into the more closely watched Consumer Price Index, comes just hours before the Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy action. Market participants anticipate that Fed officials will opt for a pause to evaluate the impacts of the central bank's 10 consecutive interest rate hikes since March 2022.
This story is developing and will be updated.
