October 14, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Producer prices advance in September
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods gained 0.3 percent in September, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.4-percent advance in August and a 0.1-percent rise in July.
![Percent change from 12 months ago, Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, not seasonally adjusted, September 1994-September 2003](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925012314im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2003/oct/wk2/art01.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Most of the September increase in the index for finished goods was due to prices for finished consumer foods, which rose 1.2 percent compared with a 0.7-percent increase in August. The finished energy goods index inched up 0.1 percent in September, following a 1.2-percent climb in the prior month. Prices for finished consumer goods other than foods and energy advanced at a 0.1-percent rate for the third consecutive month.
During the third quarter of 2003, the finished goods index increased at a 3.4-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate, after falling at a 5.9- percent rate during the second quarter of 2003.
From September 2002 to September 2003, prices for finished goods increased 3.5 percent, as shown in the chart.
These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in
"Producer Price Indexes -- September
2003" (PDF) (TXT),
news release USDL 03–546. 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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