Wholesale Prices Jumped in April, in Latest Sign of War’s Economic Ripples

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February, has driven up energy prices around the world. That, in turn, has pushed up costs for manufacturers, which rely on oil and natural gas to fuel their plants and as a raw material for many of their products. And it has raised the cost of shipping those products by land, sea and air.

Still, the ripple effects of the war on the U.S. economy initially appeared relatively modest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics initially reported that producer prices rose just 0.5 percent in March, which economists took as an encouraging sign that the energy price shock was not setting off a broader inflationary spiral similar to the one seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

The data released on Tuesday, however, calls that optimism into question. The increase in March was revised up slightly, to 0.7 percent. And April’s gain was nearly triple what forecasters had expected.

Energy prices paid by producers jumped 7.8 percent in April after rising 10.1 percent in March. And the price increases weren’t limited to energy. “Core” producer prices, which exclude energy and other volatile categories, rose 0.6 percent from March and were up 4.4 percent from a year earlier. That suggests that the oil-price shock, as well as the lingering effects of President Trump’s tariffs, are working their way through the supply chain.

“These numbers show ample evidence of both tariff-related pass-through and the energy price shock rippling widely through the economy, suggesting that consumer price inflation may get significantly firmer in the months to come,” Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander, wrote in a note to clients.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/business/ppi-inflation-report-wholesale-prices.html