May 14, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices advance in April

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 0.7 percent in April, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.5-percent rise in March and a 0.1-percent gain in February.

[Chart data—TXT]

The acceleration in finished goods prices can be traced to the index for finished energy goods, which jumped 1.6 percent in April following a 0.6-percent rise in the preceding month. By contrast, capital equipment prices showed no change in April, following a 0.3-percent increase in the prior month. 

The index for finished consumer foods advanced 1.4 percent, compared with a 1.5-percent gain in March. Prices for finished consumer goods other than foods and energy advanced 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month.

From April 2003 to April 2004, prices for finished goods advanced 3.7 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. For more information, see "Producer Price Indexes -- April 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-874. 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.