U.S. wholesale prices fell last month in another sign that inflationary pressures are easing. But President Donald Trump’s trade wars cloud the outlook.
The Labor Department said Friday that its producer price index—which tracks inflation before it hits consumers—fell 0.4% from February, the first drop since October 2023. Compared with a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.7%, down from a 3.2% year-over-year gain in February and much lower than the 3.3% economists had forecast. Gasoline prices fell 11.1% from February and egg prices, which had skyrocketed because of bird flu, plummeted 21.3%.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation fell 0.1% from February, the first drop since July. Compared to a year earlier, core producer prices were up 3.3% and lower than economists had forecast.
