The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.5 percent in September, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices rose 0.7 percent in August and 0.6 percent in July. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand advanced 2.2 percent for the 12 months ended in September, the largest increase since moving up 2.3 percent for the 12 months ended in April. Leading the increase in the final demand index in September, prices for final demand goods rose 0.9 percent. The index for final demand services advanced 0.3 percent. Prices for final demand ... (full story)

Inflation, as measured by the producer price index, ticked up to 2.2% for the year ending in September, the third such month of increases. The new numbers were released on Wednesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The consensus expectation among economists was that annual wholesale inflation would be flat after bottoming out in June and ticking up in July and August. This latest increase is an indication that inflationary pressures are persisting to some degree despite the Federal Reserve’s campaign to slow economywide spending by hiking interest rates. On a month-to-month basis, the wholesale price index ... (full story)