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| May Producer-Price Data (#1) - Jun. 14, 2005 |
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Summary
Today's release of producer-price data for May was the latest installment of the government's making its people feel good about inflation -- or attempting to!
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Earlier today, the Labor Department reported a 0.6% decline in May's Producer Price Index. Normally, the spin goes as far away as possible from the overall number, since it usually is larger than the so-called "core" rate. The latter is the absurd compilation that tries to maintain a straight face in reporting inflation with food and energy prices removed. Today, however, the roles were reversed, since the core number was the higher of the two.
Based on today's release, the overall PPI was up 3.5%, year over year, versus a 4.7% increase for the 12-month period ended May 2004. The core rate was up 2.6%, year over year, which compared with a 1.5% gain for the 12 months ended May 2004.
Tomorrow, Labor will report on consumer prices for May. The consensus estimate is looking for a rise of 0.1%. During April, the overall CPI was up 0.5%, although "core" prices were reported as unchanged for the month.
Later this week, I will publish a more detailed look at the recent inflation numbers, including import prices, the PPI and the CPI.
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