from Bloomberg:
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose in June for a fourth straight month as oil costs jumped by the most in a decade.
The 3.2 percent gain in the import price index followed a revised 1.4 percent increase the month before that was larger than previously estimated, according to a Labor Department report today in Washington. While prices excluding fuels rose 0.2 percent, they were down a record 6.5 percent from June 2008.
Rising commodity costs will hurt company profits because the worst recession in half a century has made it difficult for businesses to pass on expenses to customers. Projections for a slow economic recovery and sluggish job market indicate inflation pressures will continue to be subdued.
“You can’t ignore the amount of slack in the economy,” Ellen Zentner, senior U.S. macroeconomist at Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, said before the report. Referring to Federal Reserve policy makers, she said, “how much can they let the possibility of a resurgence in inflation sway them when they’re starting at such a high unemployment rate and such low capacity utilization?”
