November Producer Prices Down 0.2%

U.S. producer prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in November, the second decline in the past three months, the Labor Department said Friday. As expected, the plunge in global petroleum prices pushed the index lower. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.1% drop in the PPI. Energy prices fell more than 3% for the second month in a row. Excluding the volatile categories of trade margins, food and energy, core wholesale prices were flat in November. The price of services climbed 0.1% last month, a much smaller gain than the 0.5% rise in the prior month. The wholesale cost of goods fell by 0.7% to mark the biggest drop since April 2013. Over the past year, overall producer prices have risen an unadjusted 1.4%, the smallest advance since February and down from 1.5% in October. The 12-month rate of wholesale inflation had crept up to 2.1% as recently as last May before energy prices began a sharp decline and the rise in food costs slowed.