US wholesale inflation declines in August to still-high 8.7%

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation at the wholesale level jumped 8.7% in August from a year earlier, a slowdown from July yet still a painfully high level that suggests prices will keep spiking for months to come. The government also said that on a month-to-month basis, the producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — declined 0.1% from July to August, the second straight monthly decline.  Yet the better readings mostly reflect plunging gas prices and don’t necessarily point to a broader slowdown in inflation. On Tuesday, the government reported that consumer inflation was rampant across much of the economy in August.