Inflation Almost Nil During March

Decreases in food and energy prices helped offset small increases for other consumer goods to keep the U.S. producer price index for finished goods unchanged in March, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

The March figure came after producer prices rose 0.3 percent in February and in January.

Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the March index was up 0.1 percent, after rising 0.3 percent in February and 0.2 percent in January.

The unchanged March producer price index helped douse fears that higher energy prices would ignite inflation.