Core PPI Comes Hotter Than Expected, Driven By Rising “Brokerage, Investment Advice” Prices

While headline PPI came in at 0.3% on a sequential basis, as expected, and rose 1.6% on the year, also in line with expectations, it was the core PPI that came in modestly hotter than expected, printing at 0.2%, above the expected 0.1%, and rose 1.6% Y/Y, above the 1.5% expected, and far above the -1.1% drop reported one year ago. The headline jump was driven by a spike in energy prices, as final demand energy rose 2.6% in December. Accounting for almost half of the December jump in final demand goods prices, the index for gasoline climbed 7.8% , while heating oil was up 9.6%.
Away from the non-core energy and gasoline prices, the headline PPI rise was driven, surprisingly, mostly by “prices for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice, and related services” which advanced 4.4%. In other words, brokers are capitalizing on the rush by retail investors to jump in the market and are hiking prices.
Nonetheless, on an annual basis, the 1.6% increase in PPI was the highest since August 2014.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jan 13, 2017.