Wholesale prices took their largest month-to-month dive in April since the height of the coronavirus pandemic amid Trump’s ongoing trade war.

The producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, declined 0.5 percent from March to April, the largest monthly drop since April 2020 immediately following the onset of the pandemic when the global economy started a series of shutdowns.

On an annual basis, the PPI rose in April by 2.4 percent, the lowest level since September of last year, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Removing the more volatile categories of food and energy, the PPI declined 0.1 percent to mark an annual increase of 2.9 percent.

Economists noted profit margin contraction associated with the price level decline.

“Over two-thirds of the decrease [was] due to shrinkage in margins for final demand trade services, which dropped 1.6 percent,” Nationwide economist Kathy Bostjancic said in an analysis. “At the product level over 40 percent of........

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