WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in October and at their fastest pace in six years but measures of underlying price pressure cooled, bolstering the view that the U.S. central bank is not facing a resurgence in inflation.
Other data on Friday suggested U.S. consumers polled this month expected less inflation over the next year compared to their expectations a month earlier.
Prices paid by producers rose 0.6 percent in October, the biggest gain since September 2012, with much of the increase fueled by a jump in costs for energy and trade services, according to figures published by the U.S. Labor Department.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected producer prices to rise 0.2 percent from September.
But for a core measure of producer price pressures, cost gains slowed, the data showed. Producer prices outside food, energy and trade services rose 0.2 percent in October, down from a 0.4 percent gain in September. Compared to a year earlier, these core prices were up 2.8 percent, compared to 2.9 percent in the 12 months through September.
U.S. stocks opened lower as a batch of weak Chinese data raised concerns about global growth. Yields on U.S. government debt, however, fell.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Thursday and said it remained on track to continue raising borrowing costs gradually. It is widely expected to raise rates in December.
The U.S. central bank has been slowly hiking interest rates since 2015 to keep inflation under control. The Fed seeks to keep prices for consumers rising 2 percent annually and monitors producer prices for signs that inflationary prices might be building.
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