Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices fell 0.1% last month from January, first drop since July.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale inflation decelerated last month, suggesting that price pressures are easing for now.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — was unchanged from January after rising 0.6% the month before. Compared to a year earlier, producer prices were up 3.2%, down from a year-over-year gain of 3.7% in January.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices fell 0.1% last month from January, first drop since July. Core producer prices rose 3.4%, lower than the 3.8% year-over-year gain in January. The numbers were all lower than economists had expected.
The readout comes as Trump ramps up his trade war with a wide range of U.S. trade partners, threatening to send inflation higher. He has effectively imposed 25% taxes — tariffs — on foreign steel and aluminum and has plastered 20% levies on Chinese imports. In coming weeks, he is set to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and to introduce “reciprocal tariffs’’ that match higher taxes that other countries slap on U.S. products. And on Thursday the president threatened a 200% on European wine, champagne and spirits if Europe goes ahead with a tariff on U.S. whiskey.
Articles on The Cattle Range are published because of interesting content but don't necessarily reflect the views of The Cattle Range.
