Washington, DC, Apr. 11-Wholesale prices rose 1.5% in March, according to the Labor Department. The increase reflected a jump in energy costs stoked by war tensions and sharply higher prices for cars and clothes.
The big jump in the Producer Price Index came on top of a 1% surge in February.
The increase in wholesale prices in March greater than the modest 0.3% advance economists.
One of the main factors in the sharp rise in wholesale prices in March was a 5.7% rise in energy prices. That followed an even sharper 7.4% advance in February.
In March, residential natural gas prices rose a record 15.2%, exceeding the previous record rise set in January 2001. Gasoline prices rose 4.6%, and home heating oil jumped 13.5%.
Oil prices are now lower, hovering in the $25 to $28 a barrel range on world markets.
Excluding energy and food prices, the core rate of inflation at the wholesale level rose by 0.7% in March, a reversal from the 0.5% drop registered in February. The rise in the core inflation rate was much stronger than the flat reading economists were expecting.
Prices of autos rose 3.3%. Excluding automobiles, the core rate would have shown a flat reading in March.
Food prices, edged up by 0.1% in March, an improvement from February's 0.6% rise.
