Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices fell 0.1% last month from January, first drop since July. Core producer prices rose 3.4%, lower than the 3.8% year-over-year gain in January. The numbers were all lower than economists had expected.

Core wholesale prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, declined by 0.1 per cent from January—marking the first monthly decrease since July. On a yearly basis, core prices rose 3.4 per cent, down from 3.8 per cent in January, indicating a gradual cooling of inflationary pressures.