An 8.3% decline in imported petroleum prices led October's 2% decrease in the U.S. Labor Department's import price index. It was the second consecutive monthly decline of 2%.
There has been one other two-month decline in import prices this year, in February and March, when the index fell eight-tenths of a percent followed by a one-tenth percent decline.
On the other side of the trade ledger, U.S. export prices fell four-tenths of a percent in October, equaling their four-tenths percent decline in September.
