March 17, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices rise 1.0 percent in February

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.0 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This followed no change in January and a 0.1-percent increase in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

The majority of February’s increase in prices for finished goods can be traced to a 5.2-percent rise for finished energy goods, the largest one-month gain since a 7.5-percent jump in October 1990. Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy advanced 0.3 percent, following a 0.2-percent decrease in January.

From February 1999 to February 2000, the finished goods price index increased 4.0 percent (unadjusted). Over the same period, prices for finished energy goods advanced 24.7 percent, finished consumer foods rose 1.3 percent, and finished goods other than foods and energy rose 1.0 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in Producer Price Indexes, February 2000, news release USDL 00-77. 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.