Wholesale prices plunged 2.8 percent in October, a record amount driven mostly by a steep decline in energy prices.

The dive in energy prices was the largest single-month dip in 22 years, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

Prior to last month, the largest single-month fall off in wholesale prices was 1.6 percent, which occurred in October 2001, a month after the 9/11 attacks.

Core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, rose by 0.4 percent, however.

© 2008 Newsroom.