PPI has Punched Bernanke in the Eye

March Producer Price report came in and (drum roll please) it showed a 1.1% jump in producer prices!

Is this a shock to you? It really isn’t to me. The only thing shocking is to see that year over year, producer prices are up 6.9%!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, every month looks more and more like the 70’s. Gold is soaring. People are worried about gas. Stagflation is a threat. And inflation is soaring.

While producer prices are up 6.9% for the year, import prices are up nearly 15% for the past year! The only thing that hasn’t gone up this far is consumer prices. This means that margins are shrinking for producers, since they aren’t passing on the price increases.

That won’t go on forever.

Of course, this did nothing to do the Dow Jones, which is looking to open higher on the day. Not that it’s open means much, but it still shows some optimism on behalf of the market. I just don’t get what the heck they are being optimistic about.