September 16, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
PPI in August 2009
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 1.7 percent in August, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.9-percent decline in July and a 1.8-percent advance in June.
[Chart data]
The index for finished energy goods climbed 8.0 percent in August, the largest monthly increase since a 10.2-percent rise in November 2007. About eighty-five percent of the August advance can be attributed to higher gasoline prices, which surged 23.0 percent.
Prices for finished consumer foods moved up 0.4 percent in August following a 1.5-percent decline in July. Almost half of this increase can be attributed to higher prices for fresh fruits and melons, which rose 5.9 percent.
Prices for finished goods less foods and energy rose 0.2 percent in August after edging down 0.1 percent a month earlier.
From August 2008 to August 2009, prices for finished goods fell 4.3 percent, as shown in the chart.
These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — August 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1123. 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.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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