Stocks Slump Despite Good Inflation News

More good inflation news failed to boost stocks Friday, as the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled about 57 points to 8,602.52.

Friday’s setback trimmed the Dow’s gain for the week to slightly more than 31 points.

The Labor Department reported Friday that producers such as manufacturers, food processors and refiners last month charged wholesalers 0.1 percent less for finished goods than the month before and 1.6 percent less than a year earlier.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said inventories were unchanged in January while business sales edged 0.1 percent lower.

In other economic reports this week:

The Commerce Department credited warm winter weather and falling interest rates for a 0.5 percent increase in retail sales in February.

America’s deficit in the broadest measure of foreign trade - the current account - widened by 12.3 percent to $166.4 billion in 1997 as the flow of U.S. investment earnings turned negative.

Nonfarm productivity grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the last quarter of 1997, the Labor Department said. That was down from the initial 2 percent estimate and less than half the rapid 3.6 percent rate in the third quarter.