US Producer Prices Come In Hot On Heels Of Mysterious Energy Cost Surge

 US wholesale inflation picked up slightly in November from a month earlier on a jump in energy costs, even as prices for services were unchanged.

The producer price index rose 0.2% after climbing 0.1% in the prior month, according to much-heralded BLS.

Source: Bloomberg

The index for final demand goods advanced 0.9 percent in November, the largest rise since moving up 0.9 percent in February 2024. Over 80 percent of the November increase can be traced to prices for final demand energy, which jumped 4.6 percent.

Excluding food and energy, the PPI was unchanged from the prior month and climbed 3% from November 2024.

Source: Bloomberg

Economists and investors closely track the PPI because several of its components feed into the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index.

Among those categories, portfolio management fees advanced 1.4% while costs of airline passenger services fell 2.6%. The costs of physican care and hospital inpatient care rose slightly, while hospital outpatient care saw a bigger increase.

However, we are not quite sure where the prices surge seen in PPI data is coming from, as oil prices were still plummeting when this data was 'created'...

Source: Bloomberg

Still, the lack of a PhD on our side means we are surely too dumb to comprehend this divergence.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-producer-prices-come-hot-heels-mysterious-energy-cost-surge