Today's release of the October Producer Price Index (PPI) for Final Demand came in at 0.4% month-over-month seasonally adjusted, up from -0.3% last month. It is at 1.1% year-over-year, down from 1.4% last month, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Core Final Demand (less food and energy) came in at 0.3% MoM, up from -0.3% the previous month and is up 1.6% YoY NSA. Investing.com MoM consensus forecasts were for 0.3% headline and 0.2% core.

Here is the summary of the news release on Final Demand:

The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.4 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices fell 0.3 percent in September and edged up 0.1 percent in August. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index advanced 1.1 percent for the 12 months ended in October, the smallest rise since a 1.1-percent increase in the 12 months ended October 2016.

In October, the index for final demand services rose 0.3 percent, and prices for final demand goods increased 0.7 percent.

The index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services inched up 0.1 percent in October after no change in September. For the 12 months ended in October, prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services advanced 1.5 percent. More…

Finished Goods: Headline and Core

The BLS shifted its focus to its new "Final Demand" series in 2014, a shift we support. However, the data for these series are only constructed back to November 2009 for Headline and April 2010 for Core. Since our focus is on longer-term trends, we continue to track the legacy Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, which the BLS also includes in their monthly updates.

As this (older) overlay illustrates, the Final Demand and Finished Goods indexes are highly correlated.

FRED® Graphs ©Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. All rights reserved.

As the next chart shows, the Core Producer Price Index is far more volatile than the Core Consumer Price Index. For example, during the last recession producers were unable to pass cost increases to the consumer.

Check back next month for a new update.