This Week in Business: Delta earnings, consumer and producer prices

Inflation insight

The Labor Department on Wednesday releases producer price data for September.

The producer price index measures inflation at the wholesale level, before businesses pass costs along to consumers. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.7% in August, the biggest increase in more than a year. Economists forecast that growth slowed to 0.3% in September.

Producer price index, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:

March: -0.4

April: 0.2

May: -0.3

June: -0.1

July: 0.4

Aug.: 0.7

Sept. (est.): 0.3

Source: FactSet

Delta Air Lines

Delta reports its third-quarter financial results before the bell on Thursday.

Analysts expect the Atlanta-based airline made profit of $1.96 per share on $14.6 billion in sales. In the same period a year ago, Delta earned $1.51 per share on $12.8 billion in sales. Like other airlines, rising fuel costs spurred Delta last month to lower its profit outlook in the quarter to a range between $1.85 and $2.05 per share, down from the previous guidance of $2.20 to $2.50.

Consumer prices

The Labor Department issues its report on inflation at the consumer level Thursday.

In August, consumer prices rose 0.6% from July, the biggest monthly increase in more than a year. Analysts expect price growth slowed to 0.3% in September. Year-over-year, prices rose 3.7% in August, up from a 3.2% annual pace in July. Inflation at the consumer level has fallen from highs of more than 9% in June of 2022, but remain above the Fed’s 2% target.

Consumer price index, monthly percent change, not seasonally adjusted:

April: 0.4

May: 0.1

June: 0.2

July: 0.2

Aug.: 0.6

Sept. (est.): 0.3

Source: FactSet