WASHINGTON (MNI) - The November producer price data were tame overall, about as expected, and have no implications for consumer prices.
November PPI posted -0.1%, with core at +0.1% (+0.0538% unrounded). These represented +0.7% overall and +1.3% core over-the-year, showing low inflation.
Food prices were flat as jumps in pork and dairy were offset by drops in bread-items (rolls, muffins, bagels and croissants) and young chickens.
Energy posted -0.4% as all areas fell, led by -5.7% for home heating oil. Gasoline was -0.7%, a considerably better number than the -5.0% before seasonal adjustment.
In core prices, cars posted -0.8% in an offset to the +1.7% for October. This was offset by +0.6% for light trucks and jumps in the costs of hair preparations and farm machinery.
Agricultural equipment posted +1.0%, its biggest gain since +1.2% in July 2009, suggesting better harvests and rising land prices are supporting price increases for equipment used in the harvest.
Intermediate PPI posted -0.5% and crude -2.6%, suggesting no pipeline price pressures. In intermediate, biological diagnostics fell 11.3%, a redord drop. Natural gas, paper, and some metals prices were rising throughout these numbers, however.
These data have few implications for the overall price level, and in two months the PPI report will be enhanced to reflect a new intermediate/final demand system that might alter the series. New seasonal adjustments and relative importance numbers will be released with the January PPI.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the new final-demand version of the PPI also posted -0.1% in November.
