U.S. producer prices rose 1% in July due to higher prices for automobiles and gasoline, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Adjusted to exclude volatile food and energy costs, the core rate of inflation at the wholesale level rose 0.4%, the agency said. Half the gain in the core PPI rate was due to car and truck prices. Energy prices rose 4.4% last month, including a 10.9% jump in wholesale gasoline prices, the most since October. Economists had expected the PPI to rise 0.5% in July, according to a MarketWatch survey. Core inflation had been expected to rise 0.1%. The PPI was flat in June, while core prices fell 0.1%. Inflation accelerated on a year-over-year basis to 4.6% from 3.6% a month earlier. Yearly inflation peaked at 5.2% in November. The core PPI is up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis, the highest in nearly 10 years. On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 0.5% in July. Minus food and energy prices, the CPI index climbed 0.1%, slightly lower than expected. The July inflation reports show an acceleration in energy prices but little signs of inflation in other goods and services. Nothing in either report is expected to alter the Federal Reserve's view that short-term interest rates need to move higher, at a measured pace. Within the July PPI report, prices of intermediate goods destined for further processing increased 1%, with core intermediate prices falling 0.1%. The core intermediate PPI is up 4.3% in the past year, after having peaked at 8.5% in January. Prices of crude goods rose 6.7% last month. Prices of iron and steel scrap rose 2.7%, while crude energy prices rose 12.8%, led by gains in natural gas and petroleum. Finished foods prices fell 0.3%, with large declines in prices of vegetables like green peppers, eggplant and broccoli. Prices of finished consumer goods other than food and energy rose 1.8%. Auto prices rose 1.5%, while light truck prices climbed 1.4%. Prices of finished capital goods gained 0.5% in July.