Haver Analytics
Haver Analytics
Global| Aug 05 2008

EMU PPI Surges Again

Summary

Central banks are not having good luck with inflation. Of course, critics will say that inflation fighting has little to do with luck and that is true enough. The PPI is not a targeted rate by the ECB so in some sense it can be [...]


Central banks are not having good luck with inflation. Of course, critics will say that inflation fighting has little to do with luck and that is true enough. The PPI is not a targeted rate by the ECB so in some sense it can be anything and it doesn’t matter. But we know it matters and that PPI prices feed into sectors and become costs for consumer prices so a surging PPI is not good news at all.

Euro Area and UK PPI Trends
  M/M Saar
Euro Area -13 Jun-08 May-08 3-Mo 6-Mo Yr/Yr Y/Y Yr Ago
Total excl Constructions 0.9% 1.2% 12.8% 11.1% 8.0% 2.3%
Excl Energy 0.4% 0.3% 4.4% 5.5% 4.0% 3.1%
Capital Goods 0.2% 0.2% 2.5% 3.0% 2.0% 1.9%
Consumer Goods 0.2% 0.1% 2.1% 3.6% 4.5% 1.6%
Intermediate & Capital Goods 0.4% 0.4% 5.6% 6.5% 3.8% 3.9%
Energy 2.7% 4.1% 41.9% 29.9% 21.4% -0.5%
MFG 0.7% 1.3% 11.0% 9.5% 6.9% 2.6%
Germany 0.9% 1.0% 12.5% 10.9% 6.7% 1.7%
Excl Energy 0.3% 0.4% 3.9% 4.5% 3.0% 2.8%
France 0.7% 1.3% 11.7% 9.2% 7.3% 1.9%
Excl Energy 0.4% 0.3% 3.9% 4.7% 3.8% 2.6%
Italy 0.8% 1.5% 11.1% 10.8% 8.2% 2.7%
Excl Energy 0.5% 0.2% 5.1% 6.4% 4.2% 3.2%
UK 2.0% 2.6% 32.2% 22.0% 19.5% 1.2%
Excl Energy 0.8% 1.4% 12.9% 11.3% 7.2% 2.9%
Euro Area 13 Harmonized PPI excluding Construction      
The EA 13 countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia
  • Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media.   Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.

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