Rising Prices for Gas and Veggies Push Producer Price Index up 0.3%
The Producer Price Index for finished goods -- which measures prices received by domestic producers of goods and services -- increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% for August, according to a Labor Department report (link opens as PDF) released today.
After July's producer prices stayed steady due largely to cheap natural gas, both food and energy pushed August's numbers higher. Analysts had slightly underestimated the increase, expecting a smaller 0.2% bump in prices.
Source: Labor Department
Diving deeper, energy was the main source of August's s price rise. Finished energy goods moved up 0.8% in price, due primarily to a 2.6% spike in gasoline prices. Finished food prices rose 0.6%, due largely to a whopping 26.9% jump in fresh and dry vegetables prices. Excluding these two more volatile goods, producer prices stayed steady for August, below analyst estimates of a 0.1% rise.
Moving back along the supply chain, prices for intermediate goods remained steady for a second straight month, while crude good prices dropped 2.7%.
The article Rising Prices for Gas and Veggies Push Producer Price Index up 0.3% originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Justin Loiseau has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @TMFJLo and on Motley Fool CAPS @TMFJLo.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
