Summary
Earlier today, the Labor Department reported that producer prices in December fell 0.7%. With food and energy excluded, the PPI was up 0.1%.
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Earlier today, the Labor Department reported that during December, the Producer Price Index fell an unexpectedly large 0.7%, thanks to a 4.0% decline (non-annualized) in energy prices. This was the largest drop in the energy component since April of 2003.
Excluding food and energy -- the so-called "core" rate -- the PPI up 0.1% during December. The consensus forecast here was for a gain of 0.2%.
Of interest regarding the core rate is its continuing upward drift over the last several months. As of December, core PPI was 2.2% above its year earlier level. This compared with respective year-over-year changes of 1.9%, 1.7%, 1.9%, 1.5% and 1.4% for the 12-month periods ended November, October, September, August and July.
The 12-month change in core PPI of 2.2% as of December 2004 compared 12-month changes of 1.0% and minus 0.5% as of December 2003 and December 2002, respectively.
Year over year through December, producer prices (all -- finished goods) rose 4.1%, versus 3.9% for the 12 months ended December 2003 and 1.2% for the 12 months ended December 2002. For the three months ended December 2004, the PPI was up at an annual rate of 6.3%.
Producer Price Index
(Finished Goods)
-- Y/Y Change
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Excl. Food
Year All Items & Energy
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2004 4.1% 2.2%
2003 3.9% 1.0%
2002 1.2% -0.5%
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Consumer Producer Import
Price Index Price Index Prices
Month/ ---------------------------------------
Year Y/Y L3Mos* Y/Y L3Mos* Y/Y L3Mos*
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12/04 Rel. 1/19 4.1% 6.3% 6.9% 0.4%
11/04 3.6% 3.9% 5.0% 9.5% 9.1% 7.9%
10/04 3.2% 3.4% 4.4% 7.5% 9.9% 15.3%
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*Trailing three-month com-
pound annual rate of change.
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NOTE: The latest PPI data will be posted to the "Data & Charts" section of the GRA website.
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