Producer prices saw a slight drop but are still close to all-time highs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statics…(BLS)
- Y-O-Y: The Producer Price Index for final demand fell slightly to 11.0%, drown from 11.5% in March.
- M-O-M: Final demand prices were up 0.5% from March which is down from the 1.1% increase reported in March.
NOTE: Core PPI was up 6.9% year-over-year, down from 7.1% in March.
ANOTHER NOTE: Energy prices, despite a slowdown, saw the biggest monthly increase at 1.7% followed by food (+1.5%) and (+1.3%).
Producer prices, just like consumer prices, saw a slight decline in April but no one should be celebrating this drop. A year ago the economy was beginning to reopen as vaccines spread throughout the country. when we saw the initial bump in inflation last year we were told much of it could be explained away by the base effect. However, as we get closer to a year from normalization with double-digit inflation the more it appears that inflation is entrenched and will be much harder for the Fed to combat.