Prices for finished goods increased 3.1 percent for the 12 months ended August 2010 (not seasonally adjusted), their 10th straight year-over-year rise. This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Over the month, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.4 percent in August, seasonally adjusted, following a 0.2-percent advance in July and a 0.5-percent decline in June.
The August advance in the finished goods index can be traced primarily to prices for finished energy goods, which rose 2.2 percent. The index for finished goods less foods and energy edged up 0.1 percent. By contrast, prices for finished consumer foods fell 0.3 percent in August.
This data is from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — August 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-1280. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to revision once, four months after original publication, to reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents.
