March 18, 2008

Wholesale prices rose 0.3 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed a 1.0-percent advance in January and a 0.3-percent decline in December. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved up 0.8 percent in February subsequent to a 1.4-percent advance in January, and the crude goods index rose 3.7 percent after climbing 2.5 percent in the prior month.

Within finished goods, the index for energy goods increased 0.8 percent in February compared with a 1.5-percent gain in the previous month. Prices for consumer foods declined 0.5 percent following a 1.7-percent rise in January. By contrast, …