Energy prices ignite wholesale inflation

Inflation at the wholesale level rose by 0.4 percent last month, the biggest increase in three months, as the price of energy and food products shot upward, the government reported today.

The increase in the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index followed a 0.3 percent increase in January and an actual decline of 0.3 percent in December. It was the biggest jump since a 0.6 percent surge last November.

The price pressures were generally confined to food and energy.