Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy costs.
The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the so-called core PPI increased 0.5%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures.
For the all-items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January. However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month.
On a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since February 2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS. The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2%... (our emphasis)
Oil and gas prices rose sharply on Thursday as strikes on key energy infrastructure in the Middle East exacerbated fears of a global supply crunch.
Qatar said Wednesday that Iranian missile strikes had damaged a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility. The action followed Tehran’s warning about attacking energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of a natural gas processing facility in Iran.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery rose nearly 7% to $114.66 per barrel, paring gains after briefly climbing above $119 earlier in the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, however, slipped 0.3% to $96.17.
Gas prices also moved sharply higher. The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European benchmark for natural gas trading, traded up over 16% at 63.42 euros ($72.75) per megawatt-hour.
U.S. natural gas prices were last seen 2.8% higher, trading at $3.15 per million British thermal units. Front-month Nymex RBOB gasoline for April delivery, meanwhile, rose 2.6% to $3.18, reaching a near four-year high... (our emphasis)
The numbers are striking: 80 percent of ACA marketplace enrollees say their health care costs are now higher since enhanced premium tax credits expired. More than half — 55 percent — have cut spending on food or other basic household expenses just to keep their coverage. And roughly 1 in 10 have dropped their marketplace plan altogether and are now uninsured, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey of marketplace enrollees released Thursday.
The findings arrive as health care costs have emerged as a defining issue heading into the midterm elections — one that Democrats are betting will drive voters to the polls.
For Cyndi Freeman, a freelancer in Brooklyn, the expiration reshaped the family budget overnight. Her household’s monthly premium jumped from $461 to $801.
“At this point, budgeting for the future feels uncertain,” Freeman said. “We’re focused on getting through month to month.” [snip]
The picture is similarly grim for Ellen Allen, an affordable health care nonprofit director in West Virginia, whose monthly premium has climbed to $2,000 — a roughly 300 percent increase she described in visceral terms.
“Psychologically, you know, that has an impact,” Allen said. “That’s like, gosh, a third of my take-home pay.”
Allen has pared back spending on travel and home renovations, and says she is counting the months until she turns 65 and qualifies for Medicare. “I never thought I’d look so forward to turning 65,” she said.
For Kai Samuelson, a small business owner in Asheville who survived cancer 11 years ago, going uninsured isn’t a realistic choice — but the current marketplace leaves him deeply uneasy.
“I’m going to continue voting for people who believe that health care is a right, not a privilege,” Samuelson said. He added that he senses a shift in public awareness. “I’m starting to get the sense that people are starting to see that one side is clearly not interested in our welfare.”...
You see, Trump's "Golden Age" is reserved for himself and his corrupt crime family, and his Epstein class of contributors and oligarchs who shore up his kakistocracy.
(Image: gold for me, not for thee / Bonnie Cash via CNP/ZUMA Press)
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