On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 4.4 percent for the 12 months ended February 2010, their fourth consecutive 12-month increase. This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For the 12 months ended February 2010, prices for finished consumer foods increased 3.4 percent; for finished energy goods, 16.6 percent; and for finished goods less foods and energy, 1.0 percent.
Over the month, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 0.6 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This decrease followed a 1.4-percent advance in January and a 0.4-percent increase in December.
In February, the decrease in the index for finished goods was driven by lower prices for energy goods, which declined 2.9 percent. By contrast, prices for finished consumer foods rose 0.4 percent and the index for finished goods less foods and energy inched up 0.1 percent.
This data is from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — February 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0316. 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.
