U.S. import prices fell for a second straight month in December, the Labor Department reported yesterday. The cost of petroleum products tumbled and a strong dollar helped bring down prices of other goods, leading to the largest annual drop in import prices in more than two years.
Overall, import prices declined 1.0 percent last month. In the 12 months that ended in December, import prices fell 0.6 percent, marking the biggest annual drop since September 2016.
It was also the first year-on-year decline since October 2016, following a 0.5 percent rise in November. The drop of 0.6 percent in 2018 meant that this was the first calendar year drop since 2015. This comes on the heels of an increase of 3.2 percent in 2017.
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