Wholesale prices posted an unexpected decline in February, providing some encouraging news on inflation as the Federal Reserve weighs its next move on interest rates.
The producer price index fell 0.1% for the month, against the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% increase and compared to a 0.3% gain in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. On a 12-month basis, the index increased 4.6%, well below the downwardly revised 5.7% level from the previous month.
Excluding food, energy and trade, the index rose 0.2%, down from the 0.5% gain in January. On an annual basis, that reading was up 4.4%, the same as in January.
A 0.2% drop in goods prices helped fuel the headline decrease, representing a sharp pullback from the 1.2% surge in January. Final demand foods tumbled 2.2%, while energy declined 0.2%.
Most of the drop in goods stemmed from a 36.1% plunge in chicken egg prices, which had soared over the past year.
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Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/15/ppi-february-2023-.html