Retail Sales And Wholesale Prices Unchanged In August

NPR | By Mark Memmott

Published September 14, 2011 at 8:38 AM EDT

A sharp drop in energy costs helped keep prices at the wholesale level unchanged in August vs. July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported.

According to BLS, while food costs went up 1.1 percent, energy costs fell 1 percent.

Still, over the 13 months ended Aug. 31 the producer price index rose 6.5 percent, BLS added.

Also this hour, the Census Bureau reported that "retail and food services sales" were "virtually unchanged" in August vs. July — but were up 7.2 percent from August 2010.

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott

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