PPI (Producer Price Index)

The PPI is the US Producer Price Index, published every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, often the day before or the day after the CPI. It measures the change in the selling prices producers receive: inflation seen from the seller’s side, no longer the consumer’s. Its benchmark index, “final demand,” covers goods, services, and construction. A rise in the PPI can later pass through to consumer prices, though not automatically, since companies can absorb part of it; it is also used to estimate the PCE, the index the Fed targets, ahead of its release. Reading and calendar: the guide to economic releases.