PPI,CPI & Profit Margin Trends – January 2012 Update

In various past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the December 16, 2010 and April 25, 2011 posts was how the PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of the CPI. Since those posts, this PPI-CPI growth rate issue has remained notable.  …

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PPI,CPI & Profit Margin Trends – October 2011 Update

In various past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the April 25 2011 and December 16 2010 posts was how the PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of the CPI. Since those posts, this PPI-CPI growth rate issue has remained notable.  …

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PPI,CPI & Profit Margin Trends

In various past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the April 25 2011 and December 16 2010 posts was how the PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of the CPI. Since those posts, this PPI-CPI growth rate issue has remained …

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Rising Input Costs And The “Profit Margin Squeeze”

In various past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the December 16 post was how the PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of the CPI. Since that December 16 post, this PPI-CPI growth rate issue has been exacerbated.  …

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The Changing Dynamics Underlying Profit Margins

In past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the December 16 post was how PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of CPI. Since that December 16 post, the PPI-CPI growth rate issue has been exacerbated.  Doug Short, …

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PPI & CPI Trends

On Tuesday the November PPI figures were released, and they continue their recent trend of being significantly higher than the CPI figures. Should this trend continue, it will of course likely have a significant impact on many companies’ profitability. I believe there are many reasons for why PPI growth is trending significantly higher than CPI. …

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“The Billion Prices Project” – Comments

I am finding “The Billion Prices Project” to be valuable. From the homepage, “The Billion Prices Project is an academic initiative that collects prices from hundreds of online retailers around the world on a daily basis to conduct economic research.” Two of the most prominent benefits I see from the data include that data is …

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Rising Costs And Inflation

“And long before this recession hit — for a decade — middle-class families had already been expensing — experiencing a sense of declining economic security.  Their paychecks were flat-lining even though the cost of everything from groceries to college educations to health care were all going up.” President Obama, during an April 2, 2010 speech …

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Is Deflation A Benefit?

Lately I have seen a few articles that have openly stated that deflation would be a “positive” for individuals.  There are various reasons given for this conclusion. One of the reasons that has been given is that deflation would lower the price of goods, and thereby increase purchasing power. My thought on the matter is …

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