U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.3% in October, a touch below forecasts, while the 12-month producer price index reached 6.5%, the highest annual reading since November 2022, CNBC reported, citing Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics release¹.

The producer price index tracks prices domestic producers receive before goods and services reach consumers¹. Economists in a Dow Jones survey had expected a 0.4% monthly increase¹. Excluding food and energy, core PPI also rose 0.3%, matching expectations¹.

The annual headline rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than the prior reading¹. CNBC said the report arrived weeks before the Federal Reserve's Dec. 8-9 meeting, with markets fully pricing at least a quarter-point increase in the overnight rate and some chance of a half-point move¹. Stock futures added to gains after the data, while Treasury yields were mixed, CNBC said¹.

Earlier this week, BLS reported that October consumer prices rose 0.4% and core CPI 0.3%, both 0.1 point above forecasts¹. CNBC said BLS did not publish a 12-month CPI figure because of data gaps from the October 2025 government shutdown¹.

Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, told CNBC the PPI figures were unlikely to change the Fed's December path because CPI was already outside officials' comfort zone¹. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on CNBC that inflation remains broad-based beyond oil and tariffs and that progress has stalled¹.

Excluding food, energy and trade services, PPI rose 0.5% in October¹. Goods prices increased 0.5% for the month; CNBC said more than 60% of that move was tied to goods excluding food and energy, which fell 0.1%¹. The goods index was up 10.2% over 12 months, the largest such gain since October 2022¹. Final-demand services rose 0.2%, led by transportation and warehousing, including a 3.9% jump in truck freight¹. Intermediate processed goods were up 14.6% from a year earlier, the most since July 2022, and intermediate services 6.9%, the most since November 2022¹.