The tale of two perspectives:

The top headline at Excite Money & Investing:

Dow Nears Trading High on Inflation Data
Wall Street barreled higher again Friday after the week's most anticipated economic reading indicated that inflation excluding the price of gas remained tepid last month ...

The consumer price index showed prices rose at the fastest pace in 20 months in May as the cost of gas jumped. However, the so-called core CPI, which excludes often volatile food and energy prices, rose a lower-than-expected 0.1 percent. The figure, which the inflation-wary Federal Reserve watches closely, was below the 0.2 percent increase Wall Street expected.

The move higher follows sharp gains Wednesday and Thursday that marked the Dow's best two-day advance since last July after figures on wholesale prices excluding food and energy costs showed inflation rose at a modest pace.

But there were these as well:

Consumer Prices Up Sharply
Consumer prices surged in May at the fastest pace in 20 months, fueled by another big rise for gasoline and an increase for food as well.

Inflation was docile in other areas, with prices for computers, clothes, cars and airline tickets all falling.

The Consumer Price Index posted an increase of 0.7 percent, the biggest one-month gain since the fall of 2005 ...

And

Gas Prices Expected to Rise at Pump
Gasoline futures extended their rally Friday, raising the prospect that prices at the pump will reverse course and again head higher in the coming weeks. Oil futures moved above $68 a barrel.

See The Big Picture for some analysis of the numbers.


posted by Quiddity at 6/15/2007 11:16:00 AM