The Producer Price Index is a measure of the selling price of goods when they are first ready for sale to the ultimate consumer. It provides comprehensive coverage of prices for all the major goods producing sectors, including: manufacturing, mining, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and natural gas and electrical power production.
So far this year the Index has risen at an annualized rate of only 1.23%. For the past five months the Index is unchanged. Thus, it appears that inflation is well under control at the producer level of the distribution chain.
Elsewhere in the Labor Department, the Employment and Training Administration announced that new claims for unemployment insurance benefits had risen another 9,000 to 375,000 -- the highest reading since July 15. This follows a rise of 6,000 in the preceding week. These short-term rises in jobless claims seem to be at odds with the steady employment growth reported in the 11/4 monthly Employment Situation Report. But, as we mentioned on 11/4, the employment growth rate for the past year has only been 1.8%. Perhaps this rate will be moderated further if weekly jobless claims continue to grow as they have lately.
Byline: Lafferty (MF Merlin)
