NU Online News Service, Aug. 18, 2003, 12:58 p.m. EDT – Inflation may soon roar back, according to analysts at a unit that manages bond portfolios for Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford.
Although the cost of goods included in the U.S. Consumer Price Index has increased only 0.4% over the past 12 months, the cost of services has increased 3.3%, the Hartford bond unit analysts write.
The analysts note that the Producer Price Index figures, which serve as a benchmark for the prices that businesses pay, look particularly grim: Although the price index for finished goods has increased only 2.4% over the past year, the “Crude Goods Index,” which represents the cost of the fuel, wood, cotton and other goods used to make things, has increased 18%.