By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. producer prices fell slightly in September because of a sharp drop in the cost of food and wholesale inflation fell to its lowest annual rate in four years, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The U.S. producer price index slipped a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in September. Excluding the volatile categories of food and energy, core wholesale prices rose 0.1%. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.3% increase in the overall producer price index and a 0.1% rise in the core PPI. The wholesale cost of food, primarily vegetables, soft drinks and meat, declined 1.0% to mark the biggest drop in five months. Energy prices rose 0.5% as chillier weather boosted demand for fuel to heat homes. Wholesale gasoline prices fell 0.1% after a 2.6% surge in August, however. Over the past year wholesale prices have risen an unadjusted 0.3%, the lowest level since October 2009. The core rate, viewed by the Federal Reserve as better indicator of underlying inflationary trends, has risen a scant 1.2% in the same period.
