The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, surged 9.7% in December from the year-ago period. It marked the highest figure on record since the government began tracking the data in 2010.
The producer price index (PPI) for final demand, which tracks prices charged for goods and services that are not a part of other products, rose nearly 10 percent last year as a sharp economic rebound strained supply chains.
This is just one more bit of bad news, but some economists say it will continually improve. Just temporary, nothing to see here. The only problem is everything our government is doing will exacerbate it.
“Despite annual figures that are tracking at historic highs, moderation in the monthly data supports our view that producer prices will gradually descend as 2022 progresses, especially in the second half of the year,” wrote Mahir Rasheed, U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, in a Thursday analysis.
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