Falling Oil Costs Push Down U.S. Import Prices in December
16 January 2019 - 2:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Eric Morath and Sarah Chaney
WASHINGTON--The cost of goods imported into the U.S. declined in
December due to plunging petroleum prices, the Labor Department
said Wednesday. Here are the report's key takeaways:
--Import prices decreased 1.0% in December from the previous
month. Unlike other price measures produced by the government,
import prices are not seasonally adjusted. Economists surveyed by
The Wall Street Journal forecast a 1.5% decrease for December.
--The monthly decline entirely reflected lower oil prices. The
cost of imported petroleum fell 11.6% in December after falling 16%
the prior month. Meanwhile, import prices outside of petroleum rose
0.3%, the largest monthly gain since February.
--From a year earlier, overall import prices were down 0.6%.
December was the first month since October 2016 in which import
prices fell on a year-over-year basis. The annual decline stands in
sharp contrast to the 1.9% growth in the consumer-price index for
December from a year.
--Import prices decelerated rapidly in the second half of 2018.
In July, prices had risen 4.8% from a year earlier. By December
prices had fallen from the same month in 2017. The decline in 2018
was the first calendar-year drop since import prices fell 8.3% in
2015.
--Revised figures showed import prices fell 1.9% in November
from October. That was the largest monthly decline since January
2015.
--Import prices reflect costs before any tariffs are
applied.
--Thursday's report showed export prices fell 0.6% in December
but were up 1.1% from a year earlier.
Write to Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com and Sarah Chaney at
sarah.chaney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2019 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)
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