Food and beverage import prices fell 3% last month, after rising 2.3% in January.
FORBES: Import Prices Rose 0.4% Last Month; Stocks Calm After Yesterday's Hectic Trading
The German Consumer Climate reading rose to 3.9 and German Import Prices climbed by 0.9%.
Lower import prices would then push inflation dangerously close to zero in America and Europe.
Moreover, the strong dollar a factor that has helped depress import prices need not be a permanent phenomenon.
Similarly, they may raise rates if a weak exchange rate threatens to push up import prices.
In Germany, import prices rose 1.6% last month, the third increase of more than 1% in four months.
Although the sliding pound has been pushing up import prices fast, the oil shock is subsiding remarkably swiftly.
In economic headlines beyond the retail-sales data, February import prices rose 1.1%, above expectations for a 0.6% rise.
The broader measure of Retail Sales showed a contraction of 0.5% and Import Prices declined dramatically by 1.3%.
With rising import prices due to a plummeting currency, Iran Inc. is also no longer able to compete.
The latter option would risk fueling inflation already high from increases in import prices eliminating some of the benefits of devaluation.
If you needed more evidence of the dollar devaluation, producer prices are up 5.8% and import prices surged 9.7% YOY.
Import prices, meantime, edged lower by 0.1% in December, continuing the slowing trend seen in the second half of 2011.
Recessions in the third world and sluggish growth in Europe have kept the dollar up and American import prices down.
On top of this, low import prices, which have also helped to bear down on inflation, may be beginning to disappear.
U.S. import prices increased 1.1% in December, just below the 1.2% expected.
On the economic front, import prices fell 0.9 in November, marking the biggest decline in five months, according to the Labor Department.
But the Bank would need to consider the downsides of depreciation, "such as higher import prices and the negative impact on Asian economies".
Import prices rose by 0.3% in the same month contradicting expectations of a mild decline and boosting the annual pace of increase to 14%.
FORBES: Euro GDP And U.S. Housing Hammer Stocks, Boost Bonds And Safe Plays
Nonpetroleum import prices were up an annualized 2.4%, compared to declining at a 5.4% annual rate in January 2002--a 7.8% swing in 14 months.
Economists reckon that in the 1990s only about half of an exchange-rate change had worked its way through to manufacturing import prices after a year.
Import prices rose 1.4% and export prices rose 1.2% in February, each rising by an extra tenth of a percentage point from the month before.
FORBES: Manufacturing Increased Pace In NY, Materials Drive Up Prices
Now it would have the additional advantage of removing price pressures through lower import prices and freeing the central bank to pursue anti-inflationary monetary policies.
FORBES: Where Chinese And Americans Agree: An Irrational Fear Of The Fed
But in almost all cases lower import prices are good for consumers and the economy: would you rather pay more or less for your car?
The strong pound has certainly helped to lower inflation so far this year to an underlying annual rate of 2.7% in March by keeping down import prices.
Some economists believe the Chinese central bank is clearly allowing its currency to rise faster than it otherwise would, in order to reduce import prices.
Yuan appreciation would help reduce inflation directly by lowering import prices.
Friday: The economic calendar is relatively heavy with the release of export and import prices along with the preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
The Labor Department revised November's import increase to 1.5% and reported that import prices gained 4.8% overall in 2010, instigated by higher fuel prices since October.
Import prices for miscellaneous manufactured articles, from which China derives the bulk of its trade surplus with the U.S., are still declining, despite the weaker dollar.
应用推荐