U.S Producer Price Index remains unchanged in November

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the Producer Price Index for November on Thursday. According to the report, producer prices remained unchanged in November as a considerable drop in services’ cost balanced the rising prices for gasoline and food. The analysts construed the Thursday’s data as a hint towards muted inflation despite the hike in consumer prices that was noted earlier in the week.

U.S Jobless Claims Noted Above The Two-Year Record In November

The labor department also added on Thursday that the jobless claims in the United States of America crossed the two-year record in November. However, considering the pattern of high volatility in the jobless report after Thanksgiving, the report didn’t manage to gain much attention in directing the financial markets.

As per the Labor Department, the U.S producer price index extended the October’s rebound of 0.4% in November. In terms of year over year growth, the PPI has noted a 1.1% growth. Economists had previously estimated the PPI at 0.2% in November and record a 1.2% growth year over year.

Excluding energy, trade services, and food sectors that are known for high volatility, the U.S producer price index remained unchanged in November after posting a 0.1% improvement in October. The year over year growth in core PPI was announced at 1.3% by the Labor Department that marked the smallest growth since September 2016. Core CPI had hiked by 1.5% in October.

The U.S dollar index was seen trading higher on Thursday while the U.S Treasuries printed a considerable decline. Following President Trump’s announcement that a big deal with China is soon to be signed, Wall Street was reported to have turned green.

Further Information On Inflation Will Be Derived From The PCE Price Index Next Week

CPI, PPI, and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) are a few of the measures that the U.S Federal Reserve uses to evaluate how well does the economy align with its target of 2% annual inflation. While the CPI and PPI data have already been announced this week, the PCE price index will be revealed in the upcoming week.

As of October, the core PCE price index had seen a 1.6% growth year over year that marked it below the annual target for 2019.

From a broader perspective, the U.S Fed kept the rates unchanged in its policy meeting on Wednesday. Chairman Jerome Powell announced in a press conference that the policymakers are confident that cutting rates three times in 2019 was the right decision for supporting the U.S economy in the long run. He further added that the monetary policy can now be expected to be on halt through 2020 as he saw the economy in a good place.