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Producer prices rise 0.2%
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April 9, 1999: 9:13 a.m. ET
Core rate unchanged in March; rise in oil prices has no significant effect
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Inflation remained tame in March, with wholesale prices rising only marginally despite continued strength in the economy, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The Producer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in March following a 0.4 drop in February, the agency said. The core rate, which excludes the more volatile food and energy sector, was unchanged, as it was the month before.
The figures in the week's most closely watched economic indicator trailed analysts' expectations.
Some analysts, however, expected a recent surge in oil prices to significantly affect the index. But that didn't happen, lending more evidence that the economy continues to grow with a remarkable absence of inflation.
Richard Yamarone, senior economist at Argus Research, found this combination, the so-called Goldilocks economy, almost too good to believe.
"It's not just an oasis," Yamarone told CNNfn's "Before Hours." It's fantasy island."
The inflation sensitive bond market gained on the news. The 30-year bond, up 4/32 before the data were released, was recently 8/32 higher to yield 5.426 percent.
The producer price report comes amid a period of continued economic strength. The nation's unemployment rate, for example, dipped to 4.2 percent in March, a 29-year low. 
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Department of Labor
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