In some good news, inflation, as measured by the producer price index, declined from 3.5% to 3.2% for the year ending in February. The numbers were released on Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the decline is welcome news for the economy.

U.S. producer prices were unexpectedly unchanged in February, but the cooling trend is unlikely to be sustained as tariffs on imports are expected to raise prices of goods in the coming months. The unchanged reading in the producer price index for final demand last month followed an upwardly revised 0.

Wholesale prices held steady in February, data that follows signs of modest cooling for consumer-price increases in a separate report issued a day earlier. But a data revision meant that prices charged by producers rose by more than initially estimated in January.