US wholesale inflation brakes to near-zero
18 Mar 2009 1:07 AM
US wholesale inflation slowed sharply in February .. grinding to a near halt in part because of falling food prices as the weak economy sank deeper into recession.
The Labour Department says its producer price index rose 0.1 per cent in February .. a brusque slowdown from a 0.8 per cent increase in January that had snapped a five-month streak of falling prices.
Most analysts had expected a much stronger 0.4 per cent PPI rise in February.
On a 12-month basis .. PPI is down 1.3 per cent from February 2008.
