Another huge plunge in energy costs sent wholesale inflation down for a fifth straight month in December, closing out a year in which prices dropped by the largest amount in seven years.
Wholesale prices fell by 1.9 percent in December. For the year, the government said wholesale prices fell by 0.9%, the first annual decline since prices dropped by 1.6% in 2001. By contrast, inflation at the wholesale level soared by 6.2 percent in 2007.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, posted a modest 0.2 percent rise in December. For the year, core inflation was up 4.3 percent, the biggest annual increase since a 4.4 percent increase in 1988.
Energy prices last month dropped by 9.3 percent, reflecting a record 25.7 percent plunge in the cost of gasoline. Food costs fell by 1.5 percent, the biggest monthly decline since February 2006.
The cost of passenger cars jumped by 1.2 percent in December, the biggest gain since August.
The big slowdown in inflation at the wholesale level also has been reflected in falling prices at the consumer level. Consumer prices plunged by 1.7 percent in November, the largest one-month decline on records going back 61 years. That surpassed a 1 percent drop in October.
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