February 18, 2009

Wholesale prices rose 0.8% in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed declines of 1.9% in December and 2.5% in November.
 
At the earlier stages of processing, the decrease in prices for intermediate materials slowed to 0.7% from 4.2% in the prior month, and the index for crude materials declined 2.9% after dropping 5.3% in December.
 
The upturn in the index for finished goods was led by the index for energy goods, which increased 3.7% after falling 9.1% in December. Price declines for finished consumer foods slowed to 0.4% in January from 1.4% in the preceding month. The index for finished goods less foods and energy (core inflation) increased 0.4% following a 0.2-percent rise a …