US wholesale prices rose more than expected in January

WASHINGTON - US wholesale prices rose more than expected in January as services costs were lifted by a jump in the index for hospital outpatient care.

The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.3 percent in January after falling by 0.1 percent a month earlier, the Labor Department said in a statement.

This was above market expectations of a smaller 0.1 percent rise, according to Briefing.com.

"PPI inflation surprised to the upside in January," High Frequency Economics chief US economist Rubeela Farooqi wrote in a note to clients.

"The data show significant progress on producer prices from rates of change a year earlier," she added. "But like the CPI, monthly changes accelerated to start the year."

The uptick in producer prices follows a similar monthly increase in the headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation measure in January, which rattled financial markets and pushed away expectations of an imminent interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.