Investing.com - Producer price inflation in the U.S. declined for the third consecutive month in January, while core prices inched down modestly, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Commerce Department said that producer prices fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% decline, after falling 0.3% in December.
Year-over-year, the producer price index was flat in January, disappointing expectations for a 0.3% increase and following a gain of 1.1% in the preceding month.
The core producer price index eased down by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.1% and following an increase of 0.3% in December.
Core producer prices rose at an annualized rate of 1.6% in January, below expectations for a 2.0% increase and down from 2.1% 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 1.1372 from around 1.1373 ahead of the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.5425 from 1.5426 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.24 from 119.29 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.40, compared to 94.41 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.1% at the open, the S&P 500 futures inched down 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.1%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,206.30 a troy ounce, compared to $1,205.10 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $53.20 a barrel from $53.23 earlier.