December 20, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in November 2006

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 2.0 percent in November, seasonally adjusted. This gain followed declines of 1.6 percent in October and 1.3 percent in September.

[Chart data—TXT]

The index for finished goods other than food and energy rose 1.3 percent in November compared with a 0.9-percent decrease in the previous month.

The index for finished consumer foods increased 0.1 percent in November compared with a 0.8-percent decrease a month earlier. Prices for finished energy goods increased 6.1 percent in November following a 5.0-percent decline in the prior month. The gasoline index jumped 17.9 percent after falling 7.9 percent in the preceding month.

From November 2005 to November 2006, prices for finished goods advanced 0.9 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — November 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-2099. 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.