May 15, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Producer prices down in April
The Producer Price
Index for Finished Goods declined 0.3 percent in April, seasonally
adjusted. This decrease followed increases of 1.0 percent in February and
March.
[Chart data—TXT]
Among finished goods in April, prices for finished energy goods fell
4.1 percent, after registering a 5.8-percent increase in March. This
downturn marks the largest decrease in finished energy goods since a
5.0-percent drop in February 1991.
By contrast, the index for finished consumer foods rose 1.0 percent,
following a 0.1-percent gain a month ago. Capital equipment prices
advanced 0.2 percent, after rising 0.1 percent in March. The index for
finished consumer goods other than foods and energy rose 0.1 percent for
the second consecutive month.
From April 1999 to April 2000, finished goods prices gained 3.9 percent
(unadjusted).
These data are a product of the BLS Producer
Price Index program. Find out more
in Producer
Price Indexes, April 2000, news
release USDL 00-137. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to
revision once, 4 months after original publication, to reflect the
availability of late reports and corrections by respondents.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »
