While the PPI report is full of useful, seasonally-adjusted data points, the two items the vast majority of American consumers should be most interested in are the prices of beef and veal, and the prices of alcoholic beverages. Here we have some good and bad news: the good news, is that while the beef/veal price index has risen to a new all time high of 255.2, the pace of annual increase is now slowing down, and is is now "only" up 24% from a year earlier. The bad news, is that the price of alcoholic beverages, after posting two straight months of annual price declines, has once again started rising.
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