WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (Bloomberg News) — Prices of goods imported into the United States rose more than forecast in July on higher oil costs, highlighting Federal Reserve concerns that inflation may not subside.
The 1.5 percent increase, the biggest since March, followed a revised 0.9 percent gain in June, the Labor Department reported Friday in Washington. Prices excluding petroleum rose 0.2 percent, the fifth consecutive increase, after climbing 0.1 percent in June.
Higher raw-material costs and a weaker dollar are pushing up prices for goods from all over the world, including China and Latin America. Rising prices from abroad make it more difficult for the Fed to lower rates if the economy stumbles after the global retreat in financial markets.
“There clearly are inflationary pressures in this report — we see them both in energy and outside of energy,” said Julia L. Coronado, a senior economist at Barclays Capital in New York. “It highlights the balance the Fed is trying to strike” in the middle of the market turmoil.
Economists had forecast that import prices would rise 1 percent for a second month, according to the median of 51 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The forecasts were for a gain of 0.2 percent to 2.3 percent.
The import-price index is the first of three monthly price gauges. The Labor Department’s report on wholesale prices is due Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday. Economists forecast that consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in July for a second month, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Compared with a year earlier, prices of imported goods rose 2.8 percent in July after a 2 percent gain in June. Excluding petroleum, the increase was also 2.8 percent in the last 12 months.
The price of imported petroleum jumped 7 percent in July, the most since March. Prices were up 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
Food and beverage prices climbed 1.6 percent and were up 9.8 percent in the 12 months ended July, the biggest year-over-year gain since 1995.
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