U.S. import prices recorded their biggest drop in nine months in August as a sharp decline in the cost of petroleum products eclipsed rising food prices, keeping imported inflation pressures subdued.
The Labor Department said on Friday import prices fell 0.9 percent last month after slipping 0.3 percent in July.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices declining 0.9 percent in August. In the 12 months through
August, prices dropped 0.4 percent.
Sluggish global demand and a relatively strong dollar are dampening imported inflation.
That and sluggish wage growth have translated into fairly benign domestic price pressures, which should buy the U.S. Federal Reserve a bit more time to maintain its very accommodative monetary policy stance.
via Reuters
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