Wholesale prices in the U.S. declined in March for the first time since August 2016, a sign broader inflation will accelerate only gradually, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.
Key Points
The producer-price index decreased 0.1% (forecast was for no change) following a 0.3% advance the prior month From a year earlier, wholesale prices were up 2.3% (forecast was 2.4%), the most in five years, after a 2.2% gain.
Excluding food and energy, the PPI was unchanged from the prior month and was up 1.6% from March 2016. Three-fourths of the decrease in the March PPI was due to a drop in final demand services.
