Inflation pressures in supply chains may be softening, reports The Wall Street Journal. A key measure of wholesale costs shows U.S. suppliers raised prices in July at the slowest annual pace since last fall, adding to signs that the rapid growth in production expenses that has helped fuel consumer inflation is easing.

The producer-price index increased by 9.8% annually in July, the smallest rise since October 2021, and the measure pulled back 0.5% from June, the first month-to-month drop in more than two years.

Slackening pricing is hitting the transportation sector. Maritime research group Xeneta says spot container shipping rates from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast have fallen by a third this year. 

In the U.S. trucking market, load board DAT Solutions says spot truckload rates so far in August are down 12 cents per mile from the average rate in May.