November 15, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in October 2006

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 1.6 percent in October, seasonally adjusted. This decrease followed a 1.3-percent decline in September and a 0.1-percent advance in August.

[Chart data—TXT]

The index for finished goods other than foods and energy declined 0.9 percent in October after rising 0.6 percent in September.

Prices for finished consumer foods decreased 0.8 percent in October following a 0.7-percent increase in the prior month. The index for finished energy goods declined 5.0 percent in October following an 8.4-percent drop in September. Gasoline prices decreased 7.9 percent after dropping 22.2 percent a month earlier.

From October 2005 to October 2006, prices for finished goods declined 1.6 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — October 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1972. 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.