US Producer Prices Slow Again, But Red Sea Drama Poses Inflation Risk

If you were up all night worrying about the overshoot on headline CPI reported by the BLS on Thursday, Friday offered some respite: US producer prices fell in December from November. Economists expected a small increase. The 0.1% MoM decline was the third consecutive, and you can thank another drop in goods prices, which was in turn attributable mostly to a 1.2% decrease in the final demand energy gauge. The index for food posted its largest MoM decline since May. Excluding food and energy, PP