Foreign product quotes probably fell by another full percentage point last month, boosting the cumulative falloff since last June to 10.4%.
In contrast to the petroleum-led reductions posted over the preceding seven months, the decline in the Import Price Index in February is expected to be entirely attributable to lower prices for other overseas goods.
Indeed, a firmer greenback, combined with sharp reductions in metals costs, likely pared the non-oil IPI by a hefty 1.3% during the reference period - the largest drop since November 2008.
Societe Generale notes as follows on Monday:
Our projections, if realized, would place the overall and non-oil IPIs 10.0% and 2.8% below their respective year-ago levels.
