19 Feb 2009

Producer Prices Rise Quickly in January

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Now you never want to put too much into a single month’s readings, but if you–like me–have been wondering when the serious price inflation is going to start kicking in, the latest PPI report is sobering.

If you take the raw numbers–i.e. not the “seasonally adjusted” ones–the following shows the monthly and annualized percent change in producer prices in the following stages, going from Dec 08 to Jan 09:

Finished consumer goods ====> +1.1%, or 14% annualized
Capital equipment ====> +0.5%, or 6% annualized

Are the floodgates finally opening? Are people ready to accept that you can have rising prices even with high unemployment?

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