MW: U.S. producer prices fall slightly in February
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wholesale prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in February to mark the first decline in three months, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.2% increase. Declines in clothing-store margins and gasoline largely accounted for the drop in overall wholesale prices. The price of wholesale goods climbed by 0.4% in February while services retreated by 0.3%. Excluding the volatile categories of food, energy and trade, so-called core wholesale prices rose 0.1% for the second straight month. Personal consumption, a new gauge that could foreshadow changes in the consumer price index, decreased 0.2% in February. Over the past year the producer price index has risen an unadjusted 0.9%, down from 1.2% in January, in another sign of slack inflationary pressure in the economy.
