U.S. producer prices accelerated in January, boosted by strong gains in the cost of gasoline and health care, offering more evidence that inflation pressures were building up.

The Labor Department said on Thursday its producer price index for final demand increased 0.4 percent last month after being unchanged in December.

In the 12 months through January, the PPI rose 2.7 percent after advancing 2.6 percent in December. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI rising 0.4 percent last month and increasing 2.5 percent from a year ago.

A key gauge of underlying producer price pressures that excludes food, energy and trade services jumped 0.4 percent last month. The so-called core PPI edged up 0.1 percent in December.

It rose 2.5 percent in the 12 months through January, the largest increase since August 2014. The core PPI increased 2.3 percent in the 12 months through December.