Notably, as seen in the chart below showing the PPI month-over-month changes, increases have moderated from their 40-year highs earlier in 2022 but the headline number has remained steady since the summer while core PPI inflation — excluding more-volatile food and energy prices for producers — is again turning upward.
The PPI report for November sent market futures tumbling as worse-than-projected inflation numbers raised worries again of more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve as the central bank fights to tame inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said his goal is to get inflation back down to just two percent, but that achieving his goal would lead to more pain for Americans who are already struggling to make ends meet as real wages continue to trend negative.