CPI March 2008

Barry Ritholtz, Fusion IQ CEO and author of The Big Picture blog, reflects on the most recent CPI data. His thoughts circle around the stark divergence between input costs and consumer costs that has been growing lately and represent enormous price pressures for manufacturers and retailers.

But that can only go on for so long, and it seems to have reached a peak several quarters ago. How do we know this? The "inflation spread" between the crude goods and finished goods. Its now at record levels. This spread is even greater than it was in the late 1970s/early '80s.

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surce: CPI March 2008
The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/