Core PPI Rises 0.1%

Updated from 8:59 a.m. EDT

Wholesale prices rose at a faster-than-expected clip last month, the Labor Department said, as the cost of many petroleum-related products reversed an early-year decline and rose. Excluding those, however, prices charged by producers increased at their slowest pace of the year last month.

A separate report showed a fall in the annualized number of housing starts last month.

The producer price index rose 0.5% in March, reversing a 1.4% decline the month before. Stripping out food and energy prices, the so-called core PPI was up just 0.1%. A survey of economists was calling for a 0.4% rise in the headline print and a 0.2% gain in the core number. ...