October 16, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices up in September after August decline

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.9 percent in September, seasonally adjusted. This index declined 0.2 percent in August and showed no change in July.

 

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, a 3.7-percent jump in September's finished energy goods index followed a 0.2-percent decline in August. The index for finished consumer foods rose 0.4 percent, after falling 0.7 percent in the prior month. Price increases for finished consumer goods other than foods and energy increased 0.4 percent in September, following a 0.1-percent rise in August. The index for capital equipment edged up in September, after showing no change a month ago.

During the third quarter of 2000, the finished goods price index advanced at a 2.6-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), after rising at a 1.8-percent rate during the second quarter of 2000. Leading this acceleration, prices for finished energy goods rose at an 11.4-percent SAAR in the third quarter of this year, following a 5.7-percent annual rate of increase during the previous three months. 

From September 1999 to September 2000, prices for finished goods rose 3.3 percent. Over two-thirds of this increase can be traced to a 17.2-percent advance in prices for finished energy goods.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes, September 2000", news release USDL 00-292. 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.