US producer prices outside of volatile food and energy costs posted their smallest gain in four months in March and housing starts tumbled, leading financial markets to cut bets on how far interest rates will rise.
The Labour Department said on Tuesday its producer price index, a gauge of prices received by farms, factories and refineries, climbed 0.5 percent last month as energy prices resumed an upward march. But so-called core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose just 0.1 percent.
Separately, the Commerce Department said groundbreaking for new homes fell 7.8 percent to a 1.960 million unit pace from an upwardly revised 2.126 million unit rate in February.
The Labour Department said energy prices, which had plunged 4.7 percent in February, climbed 1.8 percent in March. Food prices increased 0.5 percent after a 2.7 percent drop.
The rise in energy prices reflected a 9.1 percent jump in the cost of gasoline, the biggest rise since November 2004. Natural gas costs fell 0.5 percent, residential electricity prices slid 0.7 percent and home heating oil dropped 3.6 percent.
Labour Department releases its closely watched consumer price index for March.
New construction of single-family homes fell 12 percent to a 1.591 million unit pace after dropping 2.3 percent in February to a 1.807 million unit rate. Multifamily starts rose 15.7 percent to a 369,000 unit pace after tumbling a revised 30.3 percent in February.
Permits for future groundbreaking, an indicator of builder confidence, dropped 5.5 percent in March to a 2.059 million unit pace from February's 2.179 million unit rate.
Separately, two reports on Tuesday showed US chain store sales rose in the latest week on Easter-related purchases.