Producer Price Index Is Unchanged; Core Rate Falls 0.1%

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he producer price index for June was unchanged from May, while prices excluding food and energy fell 0.1%, the Labor Department said Friday.

The June reading of prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers followed a 0.6% drop in May.

The decline in the so-called core rate, which excludes food and energy, followed a 0.1% rise in May.



Analysts’ were expecting the PPI to rise 0.4%, Bloomberg reported. They predicted the core rate would rise 0.1%.

An increase in the PPI could indicate strong demand for goods, which would mean more shipments for trucking companies. However, if inflation begins to accelerate too quickly, it could also hurt the economy.

Labor said energy prices rose 2% in June following a 3.5% drop in May. Heating oil costs, which can parallel diesel fuel prices because they are both distillate fuels, jumped 13.5%, while gasoline prices surged 8.7%.

Automobile prices fell 1% in June, the biggest drop in a year. The cost of light trucks fell 1.7%, Labor said.

Capital equipment prices fell 0.2% after rising 0.1% in April. Food prices fell 1.1% following a 0.3% decline, Labor said.

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