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U.S. wholesale price going down in January

Xinhua, February 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. wholesale prices plunged in January as energy prices dropped sharply, U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures price changes at factory gates, fell 0.8 percent in January on seasonally adjusted basis, after decreasing 0.2 percent in December. It was the third straight decline.

Energy prices went down 10.3 percent, while food costs decreased 1.1 percent. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the so-called "core" wholesale prices edged down 0.2 percent, which indicated the general inflation pressure is still tamed.

The Federal Reserve has targeted inflation at 2 percent, which is a key component for it to determine when to raise the interest rate from near zero.

With the labor market improving remarkably, the Fed is widely expected to raise the rates in June. Endite