From February to March, the U.S. government’s producer price index dropped 0.5% as energy prices plunged after having been unchanged from January to February
U.S. wholesale prices fell last month, a sign that inflationary pressures in the economy are easing more than a year after the Federal Reserve began aggressively raising interest rates.
Wholesale inflation has come down steadily – from a record 11.7 per cent year-over-year increase in March 2022 – since the Fed began raising its benchmark interest rate to fight the worst inflation bout in four decades. Beginning in March of last year, the Fed has raised its key short-term rate nine times and is expected to do so again at its next meeting, May 2-3.
The collapse last month of two major U.S. banks, which shook the financial industry, has complicated the Fed’s interest rate decisions. Minutes of the Fed’s March meeting, which followed the bank failures, show that the turmoil led the central bank to coalesce around a decision to raise its benchmark rate by just a quarter-point, rather than a half-point.
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