Sunday 20 November 2011

An Introduction to PPI - What Is It All About?

QQ0-300 The economic world is like a sandy beach, constantly shifting and changing as the financial tides ebb and wane. Professionals need to understand a wide variety of different factors in order to be effective at their job. Producer prices are the average price given to domestic producers for their product. The producer price index, or PPI for short, is the official measure of these prices in America. By monitoring the increase or decrease in prices paid to producers for their goods and services, financial strategists can better gauge market trends and the condition of the economy.

The PPI itself can trace its roots to the late 1800s, when a senate resolution authorized investigation into the effects of the tariff laws concerning both imports and exports, as well as the production and prices of agricultural and manufactured goods both domestic and abroad. Up until 1978, the producer price index was called the WPI, or wholesale price index. Published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it has been a vital way to track market changes for over a century now. Prices that are included in the index are based upon the first transaction for most goods or services.
QQ0-400 The data in the index is offered by most companies on a voluntary basis, and covers nearly every type of mining, manufacturing, and service industry in the country. More industries are added constantly, and the PPI is updated monthly. Changes in price indexes are listed as percentages, based upon the percent of change made since 1982 or since the listing was added to the index. As both industries and commodities are included in the index, it can provide a broad picture of the current American economy, including the performance of individual sectors as compared to others.
The primary function of the PPI is to help gain a true picture of output by deflating the many revenue streams that can complicate the issue. It differs from the consumer price index, or CPI, as the CPI tracks the changes of the cost of living. Changes are often made in the index, such as a new aggregation system that hopes to combine the service and construction sectors indexes with the goods sector indexes, thus increasing the index's coverage greatly. Any changes to the index itself are listed on the official website, and monthly updates can be viewed there as well.
QQ0-401 The data in the index is offered by most companies on a voluntary basis, and covers nearly every type of mining, manufacturing, and service industry in the country. More industries are added constantly, and the PPI is updated monthly. Changes in price indexes are listed as percentages, based upon the percent of change made since 1982 or since the listing was added to the index. As both industries and commodities are included in the index, it can provide a broad picture of the current American economy, including the performance of individual sectors as compared to others.
The primary function of the PPI is to help gain a true picture of output by deflating the many revenue streams that can complicate the issue. It differs from the consumer price index, or CPI, as the CPI tracks the changes of the cost of living. Changes are often made in the index, such as a new aggregation system that hopes to combine the service and construction sectors indexes with the goods sector indexes, thus increasing the index's coverage greatly. Any changes to the index itself are listed on the official website, and monthly updates can be viewed there as well.

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