WASHINGTON (AP) — Producer prices fell unexpectedly last month, dropping 0.1 percent from July, according to a new federal government report.

The Labor Department earlier this week reported that its producer price index — which captures inflation in the supply chain before it hits consumers — showed that wholesale inflation decelerated in August after advancing 0.7 percent in July.

Wholesale services prices fell 0.2 percent from July on smaller profit margins at retailers and wholesalers, which could be a sign that those companies are absorbing the cost of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on imports.

Compared with a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.6 percent.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core producer prices also fell 0.1 percent from July and were up 2.8 percent from a year earlier.

The numbers were lower than economists had forecast. Many economists have said Trump’s tariffs would send prices higher, but so far their impact has been muted.

“The big picture remains that tariff effects are feeding through only slowly,’’ economist Stephen Brown of Capital Economics wrote in a commentary.

“Wholesalers and retailers have been slow to pass on the cost of tariffs,” said Bill Adams chief economist at Comerica Bank. “This could be due to foreign suppliers discounting to maintain market share, to weak demand in the U.S., or to businesses waiting to pass on costs until they have clarity about where tariff rates settle out.’’

Still, Adams noted that some prices of imported products rose, pointing to coffee prices — up 6.9 percent from July and 33.3 percent from a year earlier.

Wholesale prices can offer an early look at where consumer inflation might be headed.

Economists also watch it because some of its components, notably measures of health care and financial
services, flow into the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index.

Economists say the drop in producer prices makes it even more likely that the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate next week for the first time this year.

Trump has been pressuring the Fed to cut rates, repeatedly saying Fed Chair Jerome Powell has waited too long to make the move. “Just out: No inflation!!! ‘Too Late’ must lower the RATE, BIG, right now,’’ the president posted on social media just after the wholesale inflation report was released.

There are increasing signs that the economy is weaker than previously thought. Earlier this week, the Labor Department reported that employers had added 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the 12 months that ended in March.

This week’s consumer price index is expected to show that consumer price inflation picked up slightly last month, rising 0.3 percent from July, an uptick from a 0.2 percent increase the month before.

Compared with a year earlier, consumer prices are expected to have risen 2.9 percent in August, up from a 2.7 percent year-over-year increase in July.