Key Points
US wholesale prices defied predictions to edge lower in December last year, according to government data published Wednesday, due largely to another sharp drop in the energy index...
The producer price index (PPI) fell 0.1 percent in December, following a similar revised decline in November, the Labor Department announced in a statement...
"Looking through monthly movements, the data show significant progress on producer prices from rates of change a year earlier," High Frequency Economics chief US Economist Rubeela Farooqi wrote in a note to clients...
This is likely to be seen as good news at the US Federal Reserve as policymakers continue their fight against consumer inflation, since higher producer prices can increase costs for consumers...
The overall decline to headline PPI in December was spurred by a drop in final demand goods of 0.4 percent in December, much of it down to a 1.2 percent fall in prices for final demand energy, and a smaller decline in final demand foods...
