Experts keep arguing about the possibility of a recession — some projecting confidence that a soft landing is possible. Others questioning whether factors like sliding consumer confidence, rapidly rising oil prices, an expanding UAW strike, and a looming government shutdown could kick the props out from under the economy, especially if consumers decide they can't keep charging the

Now there's another complication as Trepp recently noted: A big surge in the Producer Price Index sends an additional sign that retailers could be caught between challenges in supply as well as demand.

PPI for final demand took a seasonally adjusted 0.7% increase in August after a 0.4% bump in July. "The August advance is the largest increase in final demand prices since moving up 0.9 percent in June 2022," the Bureau of Labor Statistics wrote. "On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand rose 1.6 percent for the 12 months ended in August." The unadjusted numbers allow a year-over-year comparison.