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U.S. producer prices fall sequentially in December on decline in energy component

U.S. producer prices came in subdued in the month of December. On a sequential basis, producer prices fell 0.2 percent, slightly below consensus expectations of a fall of 0.1 percent. Deceleration in the headline figure was driven by the energy component, which fell 5.4 percent sequentially, although there was softness in some services components as well, with services trade margins falling 0.3 percent and transportation and warehousing declining by 0.2 percent.

Food prices were up 2.6 percent sequentially, the third solid monthly rise. Food price inflation is in contrast to other PPI components and has rebounded considerably in the last three months, paying back some of the softness from mid-2018, noted Barclays in a research report. Stripping food, energy, and trade, PPI came in flat on the month.

Looking at the special grouping components, personal consumption dropped 0.2 percent sequentially and 2.3 percent year-on-year in December, the second straight fall. Stripping food, energy, and trade came in flat at 2.7 percent year-on-year.

Overall, we think the December report points to subdued pipeline price pressures. Although a lot of the weakness came from volatile components such as energy and services trade margins, we did not see strong momentum building up in the core measures either”, added Barclays.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bullish at 67.8661. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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