Finance

Biggest drop in US producer prices since the pandemic

In the US, the producer price index (PPI) recorded the biggest drop since the pandemic in December. This decline could give the US Federal Reserve room to slow interest rate hikes.

Producer prices declined in the last month of 2022 after months of inflationary pressures in the USA.

According to the data of the Ministry of Labor, the PPI fell 0.5 percent monthly. This was the biggest drop since April 2020. The PPI increased by 6.2 percent year-on-year.

The median assumption of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was a 0.1 percent monthly decline in PPI and a 6.8 percent annual increase.

The decrease in energy and food prices contributed to the decrease in producer inflation.

Core PPI, which does not include food and energy, increased by 0.1 percent monthly and 5.5 percent annually.

According to the information released today, retail sales fell by 1.1 percent in December, above the claim of 0.9 percent. Excluding fuel and cars, sales fell 0.7 percent.