The
report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed the U.S. import-price
index surged 1.2 percent m-o-m in October, following an unrevised 0.4 percent
m-o-m advance in September. This was the largest monthly gain
since May. Economists had expected prices to rise 1.0 percent m-o-m last
month.
According
to the report, the October gain was attributable to increases in both fuel prices (+8.6
percent m-o-m) and nonfuel prices (+0.4 percent m-o-m).
Over
the 12-month period ended in October, import prices surged 10.7 percent, with
higher fuel (+86.7 percent) and nonfuel (+5.5 percent) prices contributing to
the jump. This represented the largest over-the-year climb since the year ended
June 2021.
Also,
the report revealed that the price index for U.S. exports soared 1.5 percent
m-o-m in October, following a revised 0.4 percent m-o-m advance in the previous
month (originally a 0.1 percent m-o-m uptick). This marked the biggest monthly increase
since May. Economists had forecast export prices
to go up 0.9 percent m-o-m in October.
The
October gain in the U.S. export-price index was driven by increases in prices
for both nonagricultural (+1.5 percent m-o-m) exports and agricultural exports
(+1.0 percent m-o-m).
Over the past 12 months, the price index for
exports surged 18.0 percent, reflecting surges in prices of both agricultural
exports (+24.5 percent) and nonagricultural exports (+17.21 percent). This
represented the largest over-the-year gain on record.