Tobacco sparks 0.2% rise in July producer prices
Aug. 17, 2011, 8:30 a.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Producer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in July, as a surge in tobacco prices offset a decline in energy costs, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core PPI rose 0.4%, the largest monthly rise since January. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 0.1% monthly rise and a 0.2% gain in core producer prices. Over 12 months, producer prices have climbed an unadjusted 7.2%. Producer prices of intermediate goods, which have been processed but require further processing, rose 0.2%, while those of crude goods, which haven't been fabricated or manufactured and not sold to consumers, fell 1.4%.
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