Energy Prices, Wholesale Prices Fall In August.

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Wholesale prices fell an unexpected 0.2 percent in August, the first decline in four months, as falling prices for gasoline and children's clothes more than offset rising prices for cigarettes and home heating oil, the Labor Department reported today. The decline in the Producer Price Index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers, came after a flat reading in July. Outside the volatile energy and food categories, the "core" rate of inflation at the wholesale level rose for the second straight month by 0.1 percent. So far this year, wholesale prices have been rising at an annual rate of 3.2 percent, compared with a 3 percent gain for all of 1999. The pickup in this year's wholesale prices largely reflects rising energy costs. In August, energy prices overall fell 0.2 percent after a 0.7 percent drop in July. A 2.8 percent decline in gasoline prices helped outweighed higher prices for home heating oil and residential electric power, which rose 2 percent and 1 percent respectively.