![Wholesale inflation]() The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh today as chair of the Federal Reserve, just
a few hours after the Labor Department released new data that’ll make
it harder for him to deliver on Trump’s demand for interest rate cuts. Prices
that businesses pay for goods jumped 1.4% in April, according to the
new government data, well past the 0.5% economists surveyed by The Wall
Street Journal had predicted. Overall, the producer price index reached 6%, above the 4.8% Bloomberg
had estimated. Key categories in the index are used to calculate the
Fed’s preferred inflation metric, which hit 3.5% in March — well above
the central bank’s goal of 2%. Boston Federal Reserve Chair Susan
Collins even raised the specter of a rate hike if inflation doesn’t fall. |