On the heels of last Friday's Consumer Price Index release for November — in which inflation faced by Americans hit a 12 month high not seen since 1982 — the Producer Price Index smashed through it's all-time record when it came in even higher than expected on Tuesday.
"The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.8 percent in November," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and "the final demand index rose 9.6 percent for the 12 months ended in November, the largest advance since 12-month data were first calculated in November 2010."
Another massive downside surprise on inflation this morning, with the Producer Price Index coming it at 9.6% year-on-year, the highest level on record. As we saw in the Carter years, inflation is very painful to stop once it starts to run away. https://t.co/IQnqEpH4tU
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) December 14, 2021
It seems Biden and his administration are dead set on a race to beat Jimmy Carter's record for economic pain.
As Liz Young — who heads up investment strategy at SoFi — explained in context, not only did November's numbers beat an expected 9.2 percent estimate at 9.6 percent, November's PPI is a significant increase from where the year began when PPI was below 2 percent year-over-year.
Producer Price Index (PPI) came in at 9.6% y/y, higher than the estimate of 9.2% and Oct's 8.8%. New record high. Strong increases across all categories. We started 2021 with PPI below 2% y/y and now we're nearly at 10%. pic.twitter.com/IhMz8iv0F0
— Liz Young (@LizYoungStrat) December 14, 2021
November's PPI data again debunks President Biden and the White House's claims that inflation is somehow transitory or is fading due to action by Biden. Instead, it suggests that President Biden's economic policies continue to wreak havoc on the American economy at multiple levels.
"Excluding food, energy and trade services prices rose 0.7% for the month, putting core PPI at 6.9%, also the largest gain on record," explained CNBC's report on the data. "Estimates were for respective gains of 0.4% and 7.2%, meaning the monthly gain was faster than estimates but the year-over-year measure was a bit slower."
And because the PPI measures inflation upstream from consumers, the latest numbers suggest that the CPI will continue to trend upward for December.
The November PPI (producer price index) rose 9.6% year/year - the highest level of inflation on record and higher than the expectations.
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) December 14, 2021
The PPI "core" number also beat expectations, up 7.7% year over year compared to a 7.2% expectation.
Those costs will be passed to consumers.