WASHINGTON – The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods last month declined 0.6 percent, after seasonal adjustment, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Excluding food and energy, it rose 0.2 percent, the same as in December. The full PPI had advanced 0.9 percent in December and 1.8 percent jump in November.
The figures matched the median estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of 79 economists.
“Pricing power remains limited for companies, and that’s very good news in terms of monetary policy,” Lynn Reaser, chief economist at the Investment Strategies Group at Bank of America Corp. in Boston told Bloomberg. “The core rate remains very benign.”
Additional information is available at www.bls.gov.
