Thursday, April 11, 2024

Inflation: US producer prices rose 2.1% from last year, most since April, but less than expected so it's all good

From the Associated Press who did not have "so it's all good" in their headline, that was the stock market reversing early weakness, April 11:

U.S. producer prices rose rose in March from a year earlier at the fastest pace in nearly a year, but the gain was less than economists expected. And wholesale inflation eased on a month to month basis.

The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index — which measures inflationary pressure before it reaches consumers — rose 2.1% last month from March 2023 , biggest year-over-year jump since April 2023. But economists had forecast a 2.2% increase, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

And compared to February, wholesale prices were up just 0.2%, down from a 0.6% gain in February.

Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices were up 0.2% last month from February, the second straight drop, and 2.4% from March 2023. The year-over-year increase in core producer prices was the most since August. Economists see core inflation as a sign of where overall inflation may be headed....

....MUCH MORE

Here's the BLS with the narrative and tables:

PPI for final demand rises 0.2% in March; services increase 0.3%, goods decline 0.1%