U.S. Producer Prices Unexpectedly Decrease In March, Annual Growth Slows

(RTTNews) - On the heels of yesterday's report showing a surprise dip by U.S. consumer prices, the Labor Department released a separate report on Friday showing U.S. producer prices also unexpectedly decreased in the month of March.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.4 percent in March after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in February.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.7 percent in March from 3.2 percent in February. The annual rate of price growth was expected to creep up to 3.3 percent.

The unexpectedly monthly decrease by producer prices partly reflected a continued slump by energy prices, which plunged by 4.0 percent in March after tumbling by 1.3 percent in February.

The report also showed a sharp pullback by food prices, which dove by 2.1 percent in March after jumping by 1.8 percent in February.

The steep drops by food and energy prices contributed to a 0.9 percent decrease by prices for goods, although prices for goods excluding food and energy rose by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department priced for services dipped by 0.2 percent in March after coming in unchanged in February.

Prices for trade and transportation and warehousing services slid by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, while prices for other services inched up by 0.1 percent.

The report also said core producer prices, which exclude prices for food, energy and trade services, inched up by 0.1 percent in March after rising by 0.4 percent for four straight months.

The annual rate of growth by core producer prices edged down to 3.4 percent in March from an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in February.

"Another sigh of relief on the inflation front - this morning's PPI numbers were lower across the board, which will give the Fed room to maneuver," said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Northlight Asset Management.

He added, "As long as the worst of the tariffs and trade war are taken off the table - and whether this is temporary or a true turning point will take time to play out - then the Fed can stay on the sidelines, but they are going to want to step in and cut if the economy deteriorates significantly, and higher inflation would slow them back in that case."

On Thursday, the Labor Department released a separate report unexpectedly showing a slight decrease by consumer prices in the U.S. in the month of March.

The report said the consumer price index edged down by 0.1 percent in March after rising by 0.2 percent in February. Economists had expected consumer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core consumer price index crept up by 0.1 in March after rising by 0.2 percent in February. Core prices were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 2.4 in March from 2.8 percent in February. Economists had expected the pace of price growth to slow to 2.6 percent.

The annual rate of core consumer price growth also fell to 2.8 percent in March from 3.1 percent in February. Core price growth was expected to dip to 3.0 percent.