October PPI Up 0.3%; Core Rate Down 0.6%

The producer price index for finished goods increased 0.3% in October as core prices dropped 0.6%, the Labor Department said yesterday.

The decline in core wholesale prices, excluding food and energy, was the second consecutive drop and the largest decline since July 2006. A 5.2% drop in light truck prices accounted for most of the core price decline. Wholesale passenger car prices fell 0.5%.

In October, the Labor Department changes the vehicles that it uses for its price index to account for new-model year passenger cars and light motor trucks.

Economists had expected producer prices to increase 0.5% and for core prices to grow 0.1%, according to the median estimate provided by ­Thomson Reuters.

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