U.S. Producer Prices Crept Up In May

After reporting an unexpected decrease by U.S. producer prices in the previous month, the Labor Department released a report Thursday showing producer prices crept slightly higher in the month of May.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand inched up by 0.1 percent after slipping by a revised 0.2 percent in April.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decline originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the annual rate of growth by producer prices accelerated to 2.6 percent in May from 2.5 percent in April, in line with economist estimates.

The Labor Department also released a separate report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in flat in the week ended June 7th.

The report said initial jobless claims in at 248,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 240,000 from the 247,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 240,250, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 235,250.

With the uptick, the four-week moving average reached its highest level since hitting 245,000 in the week ended August 26, 2023.

At 11 am ET, the Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the details of this month’s auction of twenty-year bonds.

The Treasury Department is also due to announce the results of this month’s auction of $22 billion worth of thirty-year bonds at 1 pm ET.