In another hint that inflation may finally be easing, the producer price index for October — which is how much businesses pay for the goods and services they buy so they can do business — increased by just two-tenths of a percentage point. That’s less than forecasters were expecting.
Year on year, producer prices were up 8%, which is the lowest annual number since July 2021. The cost of services actually fell a tenth of a point — the first time that’s happened since November 2020. And the cost of core goods — everything except food and energy — slipped by the same amount.
On the whole, that looks like a bunch of good news.
But one category of producer prices has been rising rapidly: industrial metals. U.S. copper futures recently recorded their largest one-day percentage gain in more than a decade. Zinc, tin and aluminum are getting more expensive again too.
It’s all because…
