CPI (Consumer Price Index) measures the prices consumers pay. PPI (Producer Price Index) measures the prices producers receive — costs earlier in the pipeline.
PPI often leads CPI: when input costs rise or fall, consumer prices tend to follow. Watching both gives you a sense of direction, not just the current level.
For markets, what matters most is the surprise versus expectations and the trend. Falling inflation is generally risk-on (it lets central banks ease); a hot, rising print is risk-off (it forces them to stay tight).
Macro Intelligence tracks the direction and how stretched the recent change is, so a cooling trend registers as supportive and a hot surprise as a headwind.