CORRECTION: U.S. Producer Prices Increase Much Less Than Expected In March

(RTTNews) - (Correction: The original article compared the data to incorrect economist estimates. A corrected version follows.)

A report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed producer prices in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of March.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.5 percent in March, matching a downwardly revised increase in February.

Economists had expected producer prices to jump by 1.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices accelerated to 4.0 percent in March from 3.4 percent in February. Economists had expected the pace of growth to surge to 4.6 percent.