WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Producer prices jumped 1 percent in January on rising energy costs and posted the biggest 12-month gain in more than 26 years, a government report showed on Tuesday.
Core producer prices, which strip out volatile energy and food costs, jumped a greater-than-forecast 0.4 percent, the sharpest increase since February, the Labor Department said.
Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting prices paid at the farm and factory gate to rise 0.4 percent overall and 0.2 percent when food and energy were excluded.
Producer prices were up 7.4 percent from January of last year, the steepest climb since October 1981, the Labor Department said.
(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal, editing by Joanne Morrison)
