A tableware factory in Newell, West Virginia.Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
US producer prices dropped in December by the most since the start of the pandemic, extending a months-long pullback in inflationary pressures.
The producer price index for final demand fell 0.5% last month, the most since April 2020, and was up 6.2% from a year earlier, Labor Department data showed Wednesday.
The median estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for the index to fall 0.1% from a month earlier and rise 6.8% from December 2021.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the so-called core PPI rose 0.1% in December and 5.5% from a year earlier.
