13 May 2005 On Balance, Still A Strong Economy
Posted at 16:27h
in The Friday Brief
Evidence of short term price pressures continue to arise here and there. The government reported this morning that imported goods rose in April at twice the expected rate, led by higher costs of automobiles, oils, and steel. The increase follows a gain of 2% in March, the largest in 14 years. Most of the rise was in the goods used to make other goods. But, as we mentioned last week, commodity prices (used to make other goods) are showing signs of peaking. Import prices for consumer and capital goods actually fell during the month of April.