Consumer prices dip unexpectedly in March

Consumer prices dipped unexpectedly in March, leaving inflation over the past year falling at the fastest clip in more than a half-century. The recession is expected to keep a lid on inflation as widespread layoffs dampen wage pressures and weak demand keeps companies from raising prices. The Labor Department says consumer prices edged down 0.1% last month as a drop in energy prices offset the biggest rise in tobacco prices in more than a decade. It was a better performance than the 0.1% rise in the Consumer Price Index that economists had expected. Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have fallen 0.4%, the first 12-month decline since a similar drop for the year ending in August 1955. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.2% last month, matching the gains of the past three months. It was slightly higher than the 0.1% rise economists expected.