15 January 2003, 18:46  US wholesale inflation steady in December

US producer prices were unchanged in December from a month earlier, a far tamer figure than had been expected The PPI, a closely watched figure of pipeline inflation, held steady in December from November and was up 1.2pc on a year-on-year basis, according to the Labour Department. The core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, fell 0.3pc on the month and was down 0.4pc from a year earlier Economists had forecast a 0.3pc rise in the overall PPI and a 0.1pc gain in the core rate and the weaker than expected figure indicates that inflation remains a distant threat for the US and the economic recovery The 0.3pc decline in the core rate largely reflected falling prices for passenger cars and light trucks. Top firms such as General Motors and Ford offered attractive discounts late last year in a bid to boost sales as the economy struggled through what Alan Greenspan has described as a "soft patch". Excluding cars and trucks, the core rate fell by just 0.1pc in December. //www.fxcentre.com

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