Producer Prices Change measures the change in prices for goods or services and construction related services or goods, sold by the producers, considered as final demand and intermediate demand. It is released monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The final demand refers to commodities which are sold for personal consumption, capital investment, government and export. Services which are included in the final demand are trade services, transportation or warehousing. The intermediate demand includes commodities which are sold to businesses so as to use them as inputs in the productions process, and the main category excluded is that of capital investment.
The United States Producer Prices Change
The United States Producer Prices Change latest reading for the month of June of 2017, was 2.0%, which was higher than the forecast reading of 1.9%, but lower than the previous reading of 2.4%. The 1-year trend for the Producer Prices Change is an uptrend, but from April of 2017, there are two consecutive months of declines. The long-term average reading for the Producer Prices Change is 3.05% for the period of years 1950- 2017. The all-time high reading for the Producer Prices Change was 19.57% in November of 1974, and the all-time low reading was -6.86% in July of 2009. The 5-year trend shows increased variability as from 2012-2016 it was a downtrend, but from 2016 until present is an uptrend. The Producer Prices Change latest 2-month consecutive decline is in accordance with the falling inflation rate. But these lower readings may reflect also lower demand for goods or services, which can be interpreted as a slower economic growth.
