通胀数据点评：PPI同比低点已过？

1. Report Industry Investment Rating Not provided in the report. 2. Core View of the Report - The inflation data in August showed a differentiated feature of "weak CPI and stable PPI". The year-on-year growth rate of CPI was lower than market expectations, mainly dragged down by a significant decline in food prices. The year-on-year decline of PPI narrowed, which was attributed to the initial effect of the "anti-involution" policy [1][6]. - For the bond market, the continuous recovery of core CPI for four months indicates that domestic demand is still moderately recovering, and the narrowing decline of PPI reflects that the "anti-involution" policy and the improvement of supply-demand relationship are taking effect. The ultimate impact of the "anti-involution" policy on the bond market depends on whether the price increase expectation it brings can be supported by real demand [1][6]. - Negative inflation means a passive increase in real interest rates. Compared with the weak economic fundamentals and low investment returns, the current level of real interest rates is relatively high, so the central bank may still have the demand to "reduce the financing cost of the real economy" [2][6]. 3. Summary According to Relevant Catalogs 3.1 8 - Month CPI: Food Prices Significantly Drag, Core CPI Continuously Improves - The year-on-year turn of CPI negative in this month was mainly due to two factors: the high-base effect, with the carry-over effect of last year's price changes on this month's CPI year-on-year being about -0.9 percentage points, and the pull-down effect expanding by 0.4 percentage points compared with last month; food prices were weaker than seasonal, with the month-on-month increase of food prices being 0.5%, about 1.1 percentage points lower than the seasonal level, and the price changes of pork, eggs, and fresh fruits all being weaker than seasonal [2][7]. - Although the overall performance of CPI was weak, core CPI showed resilience. The year-on-year increase of core CPI (excluding food and energy prices) was 0.9%, with the increase expanding for the fourth consecutive month. The year-on-year increase of industrial consumer goods prices excluding energy was 1.5%, with the increase expanding by 0.3 percentage points compared with last month, and the year-on-year increase of gold and platinum jewelry prices may be related to the rise in international gold prices; the year-on-year increase of service prices was 0.6%, with the increase expanding by 0.1 percentage points compared with last month [2][7]. 3.2 8 - Month PPI: Year-on-Year Decline Narrows, the First Narrowing Since March This Year - PPI decreased by 2.9% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 0.7 percentage points compared with last month, the first narrowing since March this year. This was affected by the lower comparison base in the same period last year and the implementation of active and effective macro - policies in China [3][8]. - Consistent with the "purchase price of major raw materials" in the manufacturing PMI in August being in the expansion range, price transmission started from "upstream to mid - stream", but the downstream consumer goods end still lacked bargaining power. - The optimization of market competition order drove the narrowing of year-on-year price declines in related industries. The year-on-year price declines of coal processing, ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing, coal mining and washing, photovoltaic equipment and component manufacturing, and new energy vehicle manufacturing narrowed by 10.3, 6.0, 3.2, 2.8, and 0.6 percentage points respectively compared with last month, reducing the pull - down effect on PPI year-on-year by about 0.50 percentage points compared with last month, which was the main reason for the narrowing of the PPI year-on-year decline [3][8]. - The new driving force of industry development drove the year-on-year price recovery of related industries. The prices of integrated circuit packaging and testing series increased by 1.1%, the prices of ship and related device manufacturing increased by 0.9%, the prices of communication system equipment manufacturing increased by 0.3%, and the prices of solid waste treatment equipment increased by 0.3% [3][8].