Surging Prices Changing U.S. Consumer Behavior; Eight in 10 Americans have made more of an effort to find the cheapest prices for products.
Byline: Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist Synopsis: A new Gallup Poll shows that nearly half of Americans say the most important financial problem facing their families today is surging prices, with 29% pointing to energy and gas prices, and 18% simply saying the high cost of living and...

Inflation again rearing its ugly head.
COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION; EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE Although the 0.8 percent spike in consumer prices in July reported by the Labor Department is somewhat less than the 1.1 percent rate the month before, the trend is nonetheless cause for concern. Inflation for the 12 months ending in July...

Food Supersedes Healthcare as Consumer Price Issue; In response to higher food, gas prices, 50% report their "fun" money is down over the past year.
Byline: Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist Synopsis: Fifty-one percent of U.S. consumers say food prices have increased "a lot" over the past year, up from 28% two years ago, while 24% say the same about healthcare and prescription drugs, down from 34% in 2006. PRINCETON, NJ...

Muddling through; Car pools, discount shopping commonplace in era of coping.
Byline: Lisa Eckelbecker Months into the nation's economic slowdown, a winter of discontent is fast approaching. Just about everything consumers need, especially food and fuel, is costing more. Yet it's tougher to raise money. Joblessness is up. Homes aren't worth as much, and many stock...

Surprise: Australian consumer prices fall.
Gasoline prices in Australia are down 12.4 percent. Fruit prices fell 5.2 percent (it is summer in Australia) and pharmaceutical prices were down 5.0 percent. The consumer price index dropped 0.1 percent. And this was the first time in eight years that Australian consumer prices registered lower. The decline...

Prices becoming royal pain for king consumer.
NEW DELHI: The all-India consumer price index for urban non-manual employees, CPI (UNME), rose 7.8% in February 2007 compared to the same month last year, the highest growth this financial year. The index measures the average change in the consumer prices of food, beverages, tobacco, fuel, housing,...

The coming recession: seven observers the (sorry) state of the economy.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS THIS ISSUE of reason goes to press, the dollar is at a record low against the euro, oil is more than $100 a barrel, consumer prices are up 4 percent from a year ago, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is cutting interest rates...

PM's maths multiplies woes, divides UPA.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday addressed the nation to defend the government decision to hike oil prices, saying that, in an environment of surging international crude oil prices, "there are limits to which we (the government) can keep consumer prices unaffected by rising import costs" ....

Calibrating passthrough of exchange rate to consumer prices.
Byline: Jaideep Mishra NEW DELHI: Go with the flow, goes the proverbial advice. Every flow has its ebb, it is also duly remarked. The symbolism would not be entirely unrelated to the policy domain. Take, for instance, buoyant capital inflows. Of monies from abroad buying into domestic...

PM defends 'moderate' fuel hike.
NEW DELHI: Pointing to a sharp escalation in global rise in oil prices and food and commodities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that a rise in fuel prices was "inevitable" even as the government has done its utmost to impose only a "moderate" burden on the people....