Talking Points:
• Peso Appreciates Following PPI and CPI Announcement.
• PPI Falls in January 2015.
• CPI Falls in January 2015.
The Peso appreciated as Mexican producer prices (PPI), excluding oil, recorded a decrease of 0.22 percent in January 2015, reaching an annual rate of 2.56 percent, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. In the same period in 2014 the January 2014 figure registered at 0.54 percent with the annual rate coming in at 2.04 percent. Decreases in producer prices stemmed from increases in the prices of Primary Activities of 0.95 percent and 0.13 percent in Secondary Activities, with Tertiary Prices falling 0.90 percent. The Index of Goods and Services Final excluding oil, displayed a monthly performance of 0.13 percent, with an annual rate of 3.46 percent.
The consumer price index (CPI) followed the same downward trend and fell in January 2015 by 0.09 percent, steeper than leading analysts’ prediction of -0.07 percent, and lower than December 2014’s figure of 0.49 percent. The index was weighed down by lower electricity prices, a drop in the prices of fruits and vegetables, along with the elimination of phone charges, slowing the 12-month inflation rate of 3.07 percent from 4.08 percent in December 2014. Core CPI, which excludes energy and fresh fruit and vegetables came in at -0.03, under leading economists’ expectations of 0.02 percent, and well below the 0.23 reading in December 2014. Both CPI and Core CPI were dragged down after the Mexican government’s decision to lower electricity rates by 2 percent at the start of the year, due to falling fuel costs worldwide.
