U.S. retail sales rose 0.8% in September from August, adding a fresh measure of spending alongside a month of higher prices received by domestic producers.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said its final-demand Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 1.3% from August on a seasonally adjusted basis and was 6.3% higher than a year earlier, unadjusted. The monthly gain was the largest since March 2022.
The final-demand goods index gained 2.6% for the month. A 10.8% rise in energy supplied more than four-fifths of that increase, BLS data showed.
The PPI tracks prices received by domestic producers for their output. Its annual increase is not directly comparable with the Federal Reserve’s 2% longer-run inflation objective, which is measured using the personal consumption expenditures price index, a distinction covered in EconoTimes’ earlier report on the September PPI release.
