Credit: MGNWASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States were unchanged last month in another sign that inflation is returning to something close to normal after years of pressuring America’s households in the wake of COVID-19. The producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers  — didn’t move from August to September after rising 0.2% the month before. It rose 1.8% last month from a year earlier, down from a 1.9% year-over-year increase in August. Excluding food and energy prices, which tend to fluctuate from month to month, so-called core wholesale prices rose 0.2% from August and 2.8% from a year earlier, a tick higher than in the previous month.