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The
Labor Department said on Tuesday import prices dropped 0.5
percent last month after a revised 0.6 percent decline in
September. Import prices have now fallen in 14 of the last 16
months.
Economists had forecast import prices slipping 0.1 percent after
a previously reported 0.1 percent fall in September. In the 12
months through October, prices tumbled 10.5 percent. Dollar
strength and a sharp decline in oil prices have weighed on
inflation, which is persistently running below the Federal
Reserve's 2 percent target.
Weak inflation pressures, however, are unlikely to deter the
U.S. central bank from raising interest rates next month after
job growth surged in October and the unemployment rate fell to a
7-1/2-year low of 5.0 percent. A tightening labor market could
give Fed officials confidence that inflation will gradually move
toward its target.
Last month, imported petroleum prices fell 2.1 percent after
declining 6.0 percent in September.
Import prices excluding petroleum dropped 0.4 percent, the
largest decrease since January. That reflected the impact of the
dollar's 16.6 percent rise against the currencies of the United
States' main trading partners since June 2014. Import prices
excluding petroleum fell 0.2 percent in September.
In October, imported food prices dropped 1.0 percent, also the
largest decline since January, after falling 0.7 percent in
September. Industrial supplies prices fell 1.4 percent after
declining 2.9 percent in September.
Prices for imported capital goods fell 0.1 percent, while prices
for imported automobiles dropped 0.3 percent, the biggest fall
since February.
The report also showed export prices slipped 0.2 percent after
falling 0.6 percent in September. They were down 6.7 percent in
the 12 months through October.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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