November 16, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in October 2005

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for Finished Goods advanced 0.7 percent in October. This gain followed a 1.9-percent jump in September and a 0.6-percent rise in August.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, prices for energy goods climbed 4.1 percent in October, following a 7.1-percent increase in September. The finished consumer foods index declined 0.1 percent, compared with a 1.4-percent advance in the prior month. Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy fell 0.3 percent in October, after rising at the same rate in September.

From October 2004 to October 2005, prices for finished goods advanced 5.9 percent, as shown in the chart. Over the same period, prices for finished energy goods jumped 26.1 percent, the index for finished consumer foods advanced 0.3 percent, and the index for finished goods other than foods and energy rose 1.9 percent. 

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes -- October 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-2191. 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.