The United States producer prices saw an increase in the month of December as there was a rise in the good’s cost which had been offset by the services being weaker, this latest indication of a tame pressure of inflation might allow the Federal Reserve to maintain the rates of interest at the same level in this year.
The Department of Labor on Wednesday said that the PPI (Producer Price Index) for the final demand had ticked up by 0.1% in the previous month after it had been unchanged in the month of November. In the last one year through December, the PPI had seen an increase of 1.3% post the gains it had of 1.1% in this November.
For most of 2019, the PPI had seen a rise of 1.3%. This was the smallest of the gains since the year 2015 and had followed an increase of 2.6% in the year 2018.
The economists who had earlier been polled had made a forecast of the PPI to climb by 0.2% in the month of December and advance by 1.3% on a year over year basis.
Not including the volatile energy, food and the trade service components, the producer prices also saw a nudging up by 0.1% in the month of December after it had remained constant in the month of November. This PPI had seen a rise of 1.5% in the last one year till December after it gained 1.3% in the month of November. The increase in Core PPI was 1.5% in the year 2019 and this too was the smallest of advances since the year 2015 after it had risen by 2.8% in the year 2018.
