The Producer Price Index for finished goods fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for November, according to a Labor Department report (link opens as PDF) released today.
After dipping 0.2% in October due primarily to lower automobile prices and cheaper gasoline, November's decline was mostly due (again) to dropping gasoline prices. Analyst expectations proved spot-on, having predicted a 0.1% decline. The Producer Price Index is a family of indexes that measure the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
Source: Labor Department.
Diving deeper, finished food prices remained unchanged, while finished core goods (excluding volatile food and energy) managed a 0.1% increase. Rising prices for light motor trucks, as well as more expensive agricultural machinery, helped push the core index up.
Moving back along the supply chain, prices for intermediate goods fell 0.5% due mostly to dropping diesel prices, while crude good prices decreased 2.6% due primarily to cheaper crude petroleum and coal.
In the last year, the overall Producer Price Index has increased 0.7%, while the core index is up 1.3%.
