WASHINGTON, March 21: US wholesale prices slid 1.4 per cent in February on a sharp retreat in energy costs, the government reported on Tuesday in a report that offered a mixed picture on inflation. The decline in the producer price index, the biggest in three years, was far steeper than the 0.2pc forecast by Wall Street analysts.

However, the “core index,” which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 per cent, a bigger increase than the 0.1 per cent rise expected on Wall Street.

The Labour Department report showed a 4.7 per cent decline in overall energy prices, which was the main factor in the sharp decline in prices.

Gasoline prices fell 11 per cent, the most since April 2003, just after the invasion of Iraq. Natural gas prices fell 4.1pc, the most since Oct 2001. But energy prices have risen since the February data were collected.—AFP