August Producer Price Index: Final Demand Up 0.2% MoM

Today’s release of the August Producer Price Index (PPI) for Final Demand came in at 0.2% month-over-month seasonally adjusted, up from last month’s -0.1%. It is at 2.4% year-over-year, up from 1.9% last month, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Core Final Demand (less food and energy) came in at 0.1% MoM, up from -0.1% the previous month and is up 2.0% YoY. Investing.com MoM consensus forecasts were for 0.3% headline and 0.2% core.

Here is the summary of the news release on Final Demand:

The Producer Price Index for final demand advanced 0.2 percent in August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices edged down 0.1 percent in July and moved up 0.1 percent in June. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index increased 2.4 percent for the 12 months ended in August.

Three-quarters of the August increase in final demand prices is attributable to the index for final demand goods, which climbed 0.5 percent. Prices for final demand services inched up 0.1 percent.

The index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services increased 0.2 percent in August following no change in July. For the 12 months ended in August, prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services rose 1.9 percent. More…

Finished Goods: Headline and Core

The BLS shifted its focus to its new “Final Demand” series in 2014, a shift we support. However, the data for these series are only constructed back to November 2009 for Headline and April 2010 for Core. Since our focus is on longer-term trends, we continue to track the legacy Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, which the BLS also includes in their monthly updates.

As this overlay illustrates, the Final Demand and Finished Goods indexes are highly correlated.

Now let’s visualize the numbers with an overlay of the Headline and Core (ex-food and energy) PPI for finished goods since 2000, seasonally adjusted. The plunge that began in mid-2014 in headline PPI is, of course, energy related. It is now off its interim low set in April of 2015. Year-over-year Core PPI, now at 1.8%, has trended lower from its 2.3% interim high also set in 2015.