Wholesale prices slow

WASHINGTON — U.S. wholesale price increases mostly slowed last month, the latest evidence that inflation pressures are cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates next week. The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.2% from July to August. That is up from an unchanged reading a month earlier. And measured from a year ago, prices were up 1.7% in August, the smallest such rise since February and down from a 2.1% annual increase in July.