Investing.com - Producer price inflation in the U.S. rose for the first time in five months in March, while core prices also inched up modestly, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Commerce Department said that producer prices rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, in line with forecasts and after falling 0.5% in February.
Year-over-year, the producer price index declined 0.8% in March, meeting expectations and following a drop of 0.6% in the preceding month.
The core producer price index eased up by a seasonally adjusted 0.2% last month, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.1% and following a decline of 0.5% in February.
Core producer prices rose at an annualized rate of 0.9% in March, in line with expectations and down from 1.0% in the preceding month.
Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0599 from around 1.0563 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4686 from 1.4648 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.62 from 119.93 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.51, compared to 99.83 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures dipped 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.15%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,189.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,184.20 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $52.44 a barrel from $52.34 earlier.