August 20, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer Price Index in July

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 1.2 percent in July 2008, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 1.8-percent jump in June and a 1.4-percent rise in May.

[Chart data—TXT]

The finished energy goods index increased 3.1 percent in July compared with a 6.0-percent advance in June. Home heating oil prices moved up 3.7 percent in July following a 12.4-percent jump in the previous month, and the gasoline index turned down 0.2 percent after rising 9.0 percent in June. Conversely, the index for residential electric power climbed 2.0 percent subsequent to a 0.8-percent gain in June.

The index for finished consumer foods edged up 0.3 percent in July after jumping 1.5 percent in June. The index for finished goods less foods and energy climbed 0.7 percent in July after increasing 0.2 percent a month earlier. Prices for light motor trucks moved up 0.8 percent subsequent to a 1.8-percent drop in June.

From July 2007 to July 2008, prices for finished goods rose 9.8 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — July 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1181. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to revision once, 4 months after original publication, to reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents.