by John Carney
Breitbart.com
A key gauge of inflation surged by much more than expected in April, confirming that the pace of inflation has accelerated.
The producer price index for final demand, which measures the prices paid to U.S. businesses for their goods and services, rose by 2.2 percent in April, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Compared with a year ago, the index is up 2.2 percent, the largest increase in a year.
Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent gain in April compared with March and a 2.2 percent gain year-over-year.
The impact of the higher-than-expected figures for April was somewhat softened because the prior month’s estimate was revised down from a 0.2 percent gain to a decrease of 0.1 percent.