The producer price index (PPI) is a measure of prices charged by producers for domestically produced goods, services, and construction. In the US, it is constructed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a fashion similar to the consumer price index (CPI) except it measures prices received from the producer’s perspective. It is another one of the various measures of inflation tracked by the US Fed, along with core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data.
The latest figures for February have been published by the Bureau and they indicate producer prices crept up by just 0.1% during the month after seasonal adjustments. The result was under the expected 0.2% increase but it marked a turnaround from January’s -0.1%. On a 12-month basis, the rate of producer price inflation after seasonal adjustments slowed to 1.8% after recording 2.0% in January and 2.5% in December.
