PPI

Who: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor

When: Middle of each month for prior month

What: PPI measures the change in prices, paid by producers, for a fixed basket of capital and consumer goods. It also measures the change in prices received by the manufacturing, mining, agriculture and electric utility industries. The "core" PPI excludes the often-volatile food and energy sectors and gives a clearer picture of the underlying inflation trend.

Why: Economists pay the most attention to the PPIs for finished goods, intermediate goods and crude goods. The PPIs measure inflation of prices on the producers' end and often that inflation gets passed onto the consumer and CPI. Inflationary pressures seen in PPI can help predict future pressures on consumer products' prices. As a general rule, higher inflation is negative for bond markets.