Pre-market futures are up at this hour, jetting into the green even ahead of this morning’s major economic report. Indexes are trying to climb into positive territory over the past week of trading. The Dow is +170 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +25, the Nasdaq +125 points and the small-cap Russell 2000 is up +1%, or 22 points.
PPI Inflation Numbers Steady-to-Cooler
Headline December Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers are decidedly cooler month over month, coming in at +0.2% which is only half the +0.4% expected and unrevised headline for the previous month. This is the lowest monthly print since September of last year, and we’d have to go back to July to see a lower monthly number.
Core PPI (stripping out volatile food and energy costs) month over month was unchanged, well below the +0.3% analysts were looking for. This is also below the upwardly revised +0.2% for November. To see a lower monthly figure, we’d again return to July, where it was -0.1%. Ex-food, energy and trade swings to a positive +0.1%, still below the +0.3% anticipated. This equals November’s print and hasn’t been lower since March of 2023.
Year-over-year PPI rose 30 basis points (bps) to +3.3% for December, while core PPI year over year equals the previous month’s +3.5% — the highest levels of 2024 and the highest since February of 2023. Ex-food, energy and trade cools a tad to +3.3% from +3.5% a month ago — a height reached four separate months in 2024.
The takeaway here depends on whether you see the glass half-full or half-empty: inflation on the wholesale side is only going up when we look at year-over-year headline; otherwise we’re flat-to-down across the board. Then again, we’re 300 bps hotter than we were back in July of 2023, when it really did look as if higher interest rates were having a cooling effect on inflation.
We now shift our focus to Wednesday morning, when Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers for December come out. Expectations are similar in terms of anticipated movement among these numbers to today’s PPI report: up incrementally year-over-year to an expected +2.9%. Everything else looks flat for CPI tomorrow — now we need to wait to see if these numbers come in as expected.
Free: 5 Stocks to Buy As Infrastructure Spending Soars
Trillions of dollars in Federal funds have been earmarked to repair and upgrade America’s infrastructure. In addition to roads and bridges, this flood of cash will pour into AI data centers, renewable energy sources and more.
In, you’ll discover 5 surprising stocks positioned to profit the most from the spending spree that’s just getting started in this space.
Download How to Profit from the Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Boom absolutely free today.To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
