Wholesale prices drop in June, U.S. inflation very low due to the coronavirus pandemic

[progree]

4. They include food and energy in the PPI, and the CPI too

Last edited Fri Jul 10, 2020, 12:15 PM - Edit history (3)

And that's the headline figures used almost always.

Food and energy is excluded in the Core PPI, and Core CPI, but those are usually reported deeper down in the article, and seldom in the headlines in my experience.

As it turns out, the PPI (which includes food and energy) in June fell 0.2%, but the Core PPI (which excludes those) rose 0.3%.

Food fell 5.2% and Energy rose 7.7% in June

Over the past year, the PPI fell 0.8%, while the core PPI fell 0.1%.

Looking at the last report, May's for the CPI:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
Over past 12 months,
   CPI (which includes food and energy) was up 0.1%
   Core CPI (excludes food and energy) was up 1.2%
   Food: +4.0%
   Energy: -18.9%

So all of the above numbers are very low inflation (or deflationary) except food: +4.0% (over 12 months).

Next CPI report: next Tuesday July 14

Edited to add: The CPI/PPI surveyors do actually measure the quantity that's in the boxes and cans.