Posted on 05/15/2025 8:05:15 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Prices paid to U.S. producers of goods and services unexpectedly declined in April, defying predictions that tariffs would reignite inflation.
The producer price index for final demand fell 0.5 percent last month, the Labor Department said on Thursday, the largest decline since April of 2020.
Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent increase for the month. The prior month’s reading was revised up from a decline of 0.4 percent to flat.
Compared with a year ago, the producer price index (PPI) is up 2.4 percent, in line with expectations. In March, the index was up 2.7 percent.
The producer price index is often mistakenly called a measure of wholesale prices, a confusion that goes back to its original name as the wholesale price index. In fact, the index has never been a measure of wholesale prices and the name was changed in 1978.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Unexpectedly!! Unexpectedly!!!
But… but… but… Walmart has announced that they are preparing to raise prices because of tariffs.
The explanation:
Final demand services: Prices for final demand services moved down 0.7 percent in April, the largest decline since the index began in December 2009. Over two-thirds of the broad-based decrease can be traced to margins for final demand trade services, which dropped 1.6 percent. (Trade indexes measure changes in margins received by wholesalers and retailers.) Prices for final demand services
less trade, transportation, and warehousing and for final demand transportation and warehousing
services fell 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Not altogether clear, but this looks like more front running of tariffs by doing massive purchases before the tariff influence on price hits. We saw that in the imports parameter of Q1 GDP, too.
It would be a positive story except for the fact grocery prices haven’t declined to what they were before the increases. The only thing that has declined are eggs just from last week’s high while everything else has increased.
The article’s restaurant prices would $23.38 including tax and 20% tip for the lunch “special”. Add the strawberry crepes as dessert. Guessing that’d be 2 crepes so $9.09 including tax and 20% tip vs 81 cents homemade. Wow, that would be 8 days and two meals on day 9 for 1 person’s food budget in this house. That’s reason #36 we don’t eat out.
Read this morning that Walmart is raising its prices on some items due to tariffs.
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