Inflation Scare!!!

Halloween is just a few weeks away, so it seems appropriate that investors got a real inflation scare today. 

First the good news.  The Produce Price Index fell a whopping 1.3% last month.  Needless to say, the collapse of gasoline prices caused much of the overall drop in producer prices.

Now for the scary part!  Core PPI (excluding food and energy) rose 0.6% in September or about 3X what the economists were expecting.  All of the increase was to be found in finished goods (autos for example).  Both crude goods (ie. raw materials) and intermediate goods prices declined in September.

Bottom line?  I'm not willing to read much into these numbers, as I am wondering if the finished goods increase reflects hikes in raw and intermediate goods in prior months. 

But watch out - tomorrow is the CPI!