U.S. Import Prices Inched Up in October

Price growth for foreign-made goods decelerated in October after two months of larger oil-fueled increases.

Import prices increased 0.2% in October from a month earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 0.4% increase in import prices. Unlike most measures of inflation, import prices are not adjusted for seasonality.

Over the past year, overall import prices have grown 2.5%.

The price of imported oil has climbed the past three months. Outside of petroleum, import prices increased 0.1% last month.

The import-price index is one of several gauges the Federal Reserve studies to understand how quickly prices for products are rising in the U.S. The personal-consumption-expenditures price index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, grew 1.6% in September, undershooting the Fed's 2% target. That annual inflation reading has been below the Fed's target nearly every month for more than five years.

Thursday's report also showed prices for U.S. exports were unchanged in October from a month earlier. From a year earlier, export prices were up 2.7%.

The Labor Department report on import and export prices can be accessed at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ximpim.toc.htm.

Write to Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Ben Leubsdorf at ben.leubsdorf@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 16, 2017 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)