January’s producer price index shows big drops in the cost of fruit and veggies. But wholesale vs. retail isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison.
Where prices did climb — warehousing and transportation — points to an inventory build. Upcoming CPI will make the inflation picture clearer.
The producer price index calculates price inflation from businesses’ point of view — think labor costs or raw materials prices.
September’s producer price index showed core inflation up slightly and producer prices down slightly. But there are still some interesting numbers in a “flat” index.
The decline helped bring the annual rate of inflation at the wholesale level down to 2.2%.
Despite the CPI coming in unexpectedly low, the Federal Reserve needs more convincing that inflation is really getting better.
The modest increase in Producer Price Index numbers could be good inflation, considering.
Prices of many goods are dropping as demand slows and people stay at home more. But does this mean deflation is here to stay?
