Projections in the Bloomberg survey ranged from a decline of 0.6 percent to an increase of 1 percent. Wholesale prices excluding food and energy costs were projected to rise 0.1 percent.

Stock-index futures trimmed losses after another report showed stronger-than-forecast retail sales in October. The contract on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index expiring next month slipped 0.6 percent to 1,244.9 at 8:50 a.m. in New York after tumbling as much as 1.5 percent earlier.

Retail purchases climbed 0.5 percent in October after a 1.1 percent increase a month earlier, Commerce Department figures showed. The median forecast of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was a rise of 0.3 percent. Purchases of electronics jumped by the most in two years.

Compared with October 2010, companies paid 5.9 percent more for goods last month, after a 6.9 percent year-over-year rise in September.

Core wholesale prices rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months ended in October, today's report showed.

The monthly change in the PPI included a 1.6 percent decrease in the cost of light trucks and a 0.8 percent decline for passenger cars.

The volatility surrounds the introduction of new model-year vehicles and the way the Labor Department adjusts for quality enhancements.

The cost of energy declined 1.4 percent, led by heating oil, natural gas and gasoline.

Expenses for intermediate goods decreased 1.1 percent following a 0.6 percent gain in September. Prices of crude goods, or raw materials that require further processing, dropped 2.5 percent in October.

Inflation "appears to have moderated since earlier in the year," Fed officials said in a Nov. 2 statement after their most recent monetary policy meeting.

The Fed's preferred consumer price gauge, which excludes food and fuel, rose 1.6 percent in September from the same month last year. Fed policy makers aim for long-run overall inflation of 1.7 percent to 2 percent, according to their Nov. 2 forecast.

Policy makers this month renewed their pledge to hold the benchmark interest rate near zero at least through the middle of 2013 as long as joblessness stays high and the inflation outlook is "subdued."

Oil futures in October were little changed, helping to keep producer costs in check. Brent crude futures last month averaged $108.79 a barrel, compared with $109.90 in September, according to London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Like the Fed, some companies are seeing limited pressure in materials prices.

"Commodity price inflation and the things that affected us in larger ways last year were copper prices, silver prices," Theodore Crandall, chief financial officer of Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc., said in a Nov. 8 conference call with analysts. "Some of those prices have moderated since" the first three months of this year, he said.

Producer prices, one of three monthly inflation gauges reported by the Labor Department, are calculated based on costs on the Tuesday of the week containing the 13th of the month, which may influence month-to-month changes.

Prices of goods imported into the U.S. fell 0.6 percent in October, Labor Department data showed last week.

Consumer prices, the broadest of the three measures, are due tomorrow. Economists in the Bloomberg survey predict the cost of living was little changed in October, the first month without a gain since June, according to the median.

Bloomberg