Wholesale Prices Soar

[Snellius]

(CBS/AP) Wholesale prices shot up by 0.7 percent in April, the largest increase in a year, propelled by higher gasoline costs and the biggest jump in dairy product prices since 1946.

The increase in the Producer Price Index came after wholesale prices rose by 0.5 percent in March, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The latest PPI report, which measures prices before they reach store shelves, provided fresh evidence that inflation is awakening after a long slumber.

April's increase was the largest since a 1.3 percent spike in March 2003 and exceeded the modest 0.3 percent advance that economists were forecasting. Sharply higher prices for energy and food were the culprits of the large increase in the PPI last month.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/14/national/main622894.shtml

[alfredo]

1. I wonder what

Greenspan will do when it comes time to adjust the interest rate.

[On the Road]

2. Is There an Index That Measures the Overall Cost of Living

or the overall cost of doing business, since this is the PPI?

I swear, these numbers always come out too low.

[KAZ]

3. This story is a month old. 05/13/04. n/t

n/t

[AP]

4. Which will squeeze people's ability to pay mortgages at a time when....

...the feds want to raise interest rates.

[Moderator]

5. Old news.

Sorry.