U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected last month at a time when progress against inflation appears to have stalled, undercutting expectations for lower interest rates this year.

US wholesale inflation remained stubbornly elevated last month, another sign that even higher prices could be ahead for American shoppers.

The producer price index for final demand climbed 0.4% from a month earlier, and that after an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. The data on wholesale prices comes just a day after a consumer price index report showed underlying inflation at its highest in more than a year.