Here comes inflation again!

The headline above is a snapshot from Marketwatch.

From myway (AP) news:

"Wholesale prices shot up 3.2 percent, the biggest jump in 34 years, propelled by a record rise in gasoline prices. "

And remember my post that during October, the healthy rise in retail sales was due to healthy sales only in fuel and grocery prices? Well, from the same news article:

"The Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales surged by 1.2 percent last month, double the gain that economists had expected. That followed a much weaker 0.2 percent rise in retail sales in October.

"Half of the November increase came from a big jump in gasoline pump prices and therefore was not seen as a sign of strength in consumer demand."

"The report on retail sales showed that sales at gasoline stations jumped by 6.8 percent, the biggest increase since September 2005, another period when gasoline prices were surging."

Thus, half of the robust November retail sales figures were due to the cost of gasoline. But there was some good news this time. Some retails sales increases were more broad-based than last month:

"Excluding gasoline, retail sales would have been up by a still solid 0.6 percent. This strength reflected a gain of 0.9 percent at department stores and general merchandise stores such as Wal-Mart and Target and a solid increase of 2.6 percent at specialty clothing stores."

And:

"Retail sales also posted strong increases at appliance stores, furniture stores, sporting goods stores and grocery stores."

Read the entire article here:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071213/D8TGJM000.html