From Bloomberg, March 14:
- Core and broader measures exceed estimates for modest rises
- Economists parse PPI for inputs into Fed’s preferred gauge
Prices paid to US producers rose in February by the most in six months, driven by higher fuel and food costs that add to evidence inflation remains elevated.
The producer price index for final demand increased 0.6% from January, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The gauge rose 1.6% from a year earlier, the largest annual advance since September.
The so-called core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy categories, advanced 0.3% from the prior month, and 2% from a year ago.
The pickup in cost pressures at the wholesale level illustrates an uneven path for Federal Reserve policymakers seeking greater progress in their inflation fight. Consumer-price data earlier this week showed underlying inflation exceeded forecasts for a second month, reaffirming expectations that the Fed will be in no rush to reduce interest rates....
....MUCH MORE
Here's the Bureau of Labor Statistics PPI release and tables. The inflation driver at the wholesale level has shifted back to goods vs services and in particular the fuel component of the index.
That is always a problem because fuel prices flow through to affect just about everything in the economy at the retail level.
And we aren't even into the peak driving season for another couple months.
Final Demand
Final demand goods: Prices for final demand goods advanced 1.2 percent in February, the largest increase since moving up 1.7 percent in August 2023. Nearly 70 percent of the broad-based rise in February can be attributed to the index for final demand energy, which jumped 4.4 percent. Prices for final demand goods less foods and energy and for final demand foods also increased, moving up 0.3 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.
Product detail: One-third of the February advance in the index for final demand goods can be traced to a 6.8-percent increase in prices for gasoline. The indexes for diesel fuel, chicken eggs, jet fuel, beef and veal, and tobacco products also rose. Conversely, prices for hay, hayseeds, and oilseeds decreased 8.3 percent. The indexes for iron and steel scrap and for asphalt also fell. (See table 2.)....
Related, yesterday:
