Investors will be mulling over a surprise jump in U.S. producer prices when North American markets open Friday.

U.S. wholesale prices rose moderately in January, but excluding food and energy, prices surged, led by higher costs of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.

The U.S. Labor Department said its producer-price index for finished goods rose 0.3% in January after declining 0.3% in December. Energy prices fell 1% after a 2.5% drop in December, while food prices slipped 0.2% after a 0.1% rise in December.

The big surprise was the 0.8% jump in the core index, which excludes food and energy items. The increase was the biggest since a 1% rise in December 1998.

Economists had called for a 0.3% decrease in the overall index and a 0.2% gain in core prices.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said wholesale sales were up for the third consecutive month in December, rising 1.1% to $38.7 billion. December’s increase followed advances of 0.7% in November and 0.3% in October.

Sales in the motor vehicles group jumped 6.6% in December. There were also sizable increases registered by wholesalers of “other products” (+3.9%) and of household and personal products (+3.2%).

Later this morning, the University of Michigan is slated to release the preliminary reading of its consumer sentiment index for February. Economists look for little change, with a reading of 95.6 compared with 95.5 for the final January reading.

Yesterday, declining oil prices weighed on Toronto stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 20.33 points, or 0.21%, to close at 9,619.26.

Energy shares fell 1.86%. as the price of oil slid 79¢ to US$47.54 a barrel on sturdy U.S. inventories.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index bucked the down trend rising 19.12 points, or 1.01%, 1,919.49.

In New York, U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, as concerns about rising interest rates, and mixed economic data weighed on equities.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 80.62 points, or 0.74%, at 10,754.26. The S&P 500 I was down 9.59 points, or 0.79%, at 1,200.75. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 26.09 points, or 1.25%, at 2,061.34.