Wholesale prices, a leading gauge of inflation, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in November, higher than the consensus estimate of 0.2% and above October’s increase of 0.3%. The rising price of goods shows that inflation may be stickier than the Federal Reserve would like, especially in areas such as food and some services.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Producer Price Index, which is a measure of wholesale prices, has been ticking up in the past two months after hitting 0.2% in September. On an unadjusted basis, the prices of goods and services rose 3.0% during the past 12 months, ending in November. That is the largest rise since moving up 4.7% for the 12-month period ending in February 2023.

The main culprit for the rising prices was food, which rose 3.1% in November, accounting for 80% of the increase. Energy costs were tame, rising 0.2% from the previous month. But when the volatile categories of food and energy are stripped out of the numbers, inflation rose 0.2%, in line with expectations.

In the food category, 54.6% of the increase is attributable to the rising cost of eggs because of the ongoing impact of the national bird flu. Prices for vegetables, fruits, processed poultry, cigarettes and residential electric power also increased.

Services increased as well, but only slightly, rising 0.2%. The cost of trade services was up 0.8%. However, the cost of services less trade, transportation and warehousing rose a scant 0.1%. The prices for transportation and warehousing services fell 0.5%.