PPI: Price, Meet Margin

What do we have here?

The Producer Price Index for finished goods declined 0.1 percent in December, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Prices for finished goods moved up 0.3 percent in November and fell 0.3 percent in October. At the earlier stages of processing, the index for intermediate goods decreased 0.5 percent in December, and crude goods prices moved down 1.1 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the index for finished goods increased 4.8 percent in 2011 after rising 3.8 percent in 2010. (See table A.)

Hmmm....  Yes, the finished goods numbers are coming in.  But a bit part of that was in food and energy for finished goods in December, both of which posted 0.8% declines (gasoline!)

The 12-month numbers are more encouraging as well -- we now have three months running of decreases in both, which is the definition of...

See the chart, and read the full analysis at Market Ticker here.