by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Prices charged by U.S. producers of goods and services rose by 2.1 percent over the twelve months through March, an increase over the 1.6 percent annual inflation recorded in the previous month.
Despite the increase in the year-over-year inflation, rate, there was some good news in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ producer price index (PPI) for final demand. The monthly increase slowed to 0.2 percent in March from 0.6 percent in February.
Economists had forecast worse. The year-over-year figure was seen as rising to 2.3 percent and the forecast for the monthly figure was for a 0.3 percent increase.
Core PPI, which excluded food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, matching the consensus forecast and down from February’s 0.3 percent rise. The annual increase came in at 2.4 percent, just ahead of the expectation for a 2.3 percent rise.