I need yalls help.. cant find anything about the rate of inflation

[southernleftylady]

i heard that it took the biggest jump in the last month than it has in the last 15 years...
is this correct?
tia!

[blitzburgh55]

1. wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in almost 15 years

Is this what you're looking for?




WASHINGTON -- U.S. wholesale prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly 15 years in October as prices of energy and food surged, although inflation outside those sectors remained mild.

The producer price index for finished goods rose 1.7%, the biggest increase since January 1990, the Labor Department said Tuesday. But the surge was mostly due to soaring energy prices. The so-called core index, which excludes energy and food items, rose a moderate 0.3%, the same rate as in September.

The numbers surprised Wall Street. The average forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC had called for a 0.6% increase in the overall index and a 0.1% gain in core prices.

Still, the report supported the Federal Reserve's view that high oil prices aren't likely to trigger a general outbreak of inflation. In annual terms, the growth of core producer prices actually moderated in October -- to a 1.8% rate, from 1.9% in the year through September.

http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20041116-000428-0847

[TexasProgresive]

2. 3.2% annual per Finacial Times

4th paragraph down:
"the annual rate of inflation reached 3.2 per cent. But the currency marketes ignored these strong US economic figures and instead concentrated on Mr Snow's comments and the meeting of finance ministers from the "Group of 20" rich and emerging economies scheduled for this weekend."

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c192234a-3907-11d9-bc76-00000e2511c8.html

[southernleftylady]

3. Thanks you two :) nt

[elehhhhna]

4. The Fed wasn't counting gas & food prices --"too volatile" --

they made that statement a few months ago.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. It's Always Been That Way! It's Not Completely Legit, Though

The Inflation Market Basket has never included food and energy. The logic was that after some lag, the price changes in energy would end up driving up the cost of all other goods and services, so counting energy would end up double counting. While true, it's not a complete story.

For one thing, people have DIRECT energy expenses. Gas for the car and heat & electricity for their homes are costs that can rise dramatically and will NOT show up at some future time in the cost of goods and services. So, failing to index the CPI for the direct energy expenditures leaves out a very large chunk. (Someone with a car that gets 25 mpg and drives 18k miles per year needs to buy 720 gallons of gas. At $1.60/gal., they would spend $1,152. When gas hits $2, that cost is $1,440. That's nearly $300. So, if they make $60k per year, the impact on them is 0.5% of their income without getting a single thing more for their money. Same with electricity.)

Interestingly, home electronics, which have a way of going DOWN in price ARE included in the CPI, even though they are more volatile in prices than is food. And, the overall price range of readily available goods is much broader, meaning it is a market segment that is MUCH more volatile than the food market. So much for that excuse.

So, the CPI is fraught with problems, but the lack of direct energy expenditures as part of the market basket is probably the most glaring.
The Professor

[elehhhhna]

6. Gee thanks that was a very concise explanation!