December 21, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in November

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 0.7 percent in November 2005, seasonally adjusted. This decrease followed a 0.7-percent rise in October and a 1.9-percent gain in September.

[Chart data—TXT]

The downturn in the finished goods index was due to prices for energy goods, which fell 4.0 percent in November after increasing 4.1 percent a month earlier. The finished consumer foods index moved up 0.5 percent, after edging down 0.1 percent in October. Prices for finished consumer goods other than foods and energy turned up 0.2 percent, following a 0.2-percent decline in the previous month.

Capital equipment prices fell 0.1 percent in November, compared with a 0.2-percent decrease in the prior month.

From November 2004 to November 2005, prices for finished goods advanced 4.4 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes -- November 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-2350. 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.