U.S. producer prices, which often affect consumer prices and entail all costs involved in providing goods and services, increased at an annual rate of 2.4% in October in an overall climate of easing cost pressures.

The Labor Department figure released Thursday was in line with analysts' expectations, though higher than the 1.9% annual rate for September. Overall growth in producer prices, also known as wholesale prices, has generally been slowing since June along with consumer inflation, reported at 2.6% for October.

On a month-over-month basis, service costs tied to transportation increased 0.5% in October, with warehousing rising 0.1%. Food costs declined 0.2% from the prior month as energy costs decreased 0.3%.

The latest consumer and producer inflation numbers “signal that prices rose at a faster pace in October, but the details don’t point to accelerating inflation," Matthew Martin, a senior U.S. economist at research firm Oxford Economics, said in a statement. He added that declines in energy and food prices helped offset increases in other areas such as financial portfolio management services.