Producer price index surprises economists with 0.4% decline in March

Here’s a good economic data point for a change—although to be clear, it’s a reflection of a time before President Donald Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs plan (then rolled back most of them).

Prices for producers and manufacturers decreased 0.4% in March from the previous month, compared to increases of 0.1% in February and 0.6% in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed. The producer price index report also showed that wholesale pricing increased 2.7% on an annual basis, down from 3.2% in February.

This was better than experts’ predictions, according to CNN, which reported that “economists were expecting monthly prices to rise by 0.2% and to accelerate to 3.3% on an annual basis.”

The decrease in the producer price index is largely thanks to a 0.9% drop in the cost of goods, according to the BLS report. The cost of services also decreased in March, but only by 0.2%.

The goods stuff. The price of gas decreased 11.1% in March, which accounted for two-thirds of that 0.9% drop in goods pricing, according to BLS. The cost of diesel fuel, eggs, vegetables, and beef products also declined. The price of steel mill products, on the other hand, increased 7.1% last month.