Wholesale prices post modest increase in June

WASHINGTON — Inflation at the wholesale level remained muted in June.

The Labor Department says its producer price index, which measures prices before they reach consumers, rose 0.1 per cent last month after being flat in May. The index was up 2 per cent in June from a year earlier.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress Wednesday that Fed officials are planning to continue gradually raising short-term interest rates, but want to see inflation creep back toward their annual target of 2 per cent.

Most of the June increase came from rising prices for services, including a 4 per cent jump in the cost of brokerage and other investment services. Wholesale energy prices fell 0.5 per cent, including a 1.1 per cent drop in gasoline prices. The price of repairing and maintaining cars and trucks fell 1 per cent, most in more than two years.