Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (12950)	10/6/2004 2:41:23 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 116555

In my previous post it should be read as >>>missing the point that the government is saving hundreds of thousand of $$$ on every avoidance of an fatal car accident<<<

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (12950)	10/7/2004 4:25:14 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 116555

Inflation Lurks in the Dregs of My Starbucks Brew: Mark Gilbert Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A morning java costs 11 cents more at a U.S. branch of Starbucks Corp. this week, following the first price increase from the Seattle-based chain in four years. That made me wonder whether the buckets of overpriced, overheated liquid caffeine served in those fake living rooms littering the world are the only places inflation is hiding. Let's start, though, with that cup of heart-starter. In the past year, the price of coffee traded on the New York Board of Trade has climbed 7 percent, with the contract for December settlement currently at about 77 cents a pound while the June contract signals a further increase to about 84 cents. Click on {KCA <Cmdty> GPCT D <GO>} to see the relevant chart. Milk and sugar with that? Milk costs about 14 percent more than it did a year ago, based on the NYBOT's October contract, at about 14.10 cents a pound. It's the sweet tooth that will really hurt you, though, with sugar up 42 percent in the past year to 9 cents a pound. Have a look at the charts {DAA <Cmdty> GPCT D <GO>} and {SBA <Cmdty> GPCT D <GO>}. Fancy a breakfast sandwich to accompany your beverage? That bacon filling in your heated ``ciabatta'' costs about 8 percent more than it did six months ago, based on the price gain in pork belly futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to more than 96 cents a pound from about 88 cents in April. The price is up more than 14 percent in the past year. The percentage change can be seen using {PBA <Cmdty> GPCT <GO>}. Wood and Lumber Starbucks says it opens three or four stores a day around the world, and it now has more than 2,000 non-North American stores selling ``frappuccinos'' and lattes in 34 countries. With wood and lumber prices at their highest in more than 30 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of fitting out those new salons is also climbing. The Bureau's index of wood and lumber products, which isn't seasonally adjusted and was rebased to 100 in 1982, has climbed 10 percent in the past year. In the past decade, it's up more than 90 percent. See {PCILWOOD <Index> GP Q <GO>} for a 30-year chart, or {PCILWOOD <Index> GPCT M <GO>} for the percentage climb in the past 10 years. Gleaming steel counters are a feature of your local Starbucks -- and steel prices have doubled this year to almost $600 a metric ton, according to indexes compiled by Metal Bulletin. The chart {MBSTEUHR <Index> GP D <GO>} shows the cost of European hot rolled steel. Bill Gross, who's almost as ubiquitous as Starbucks in his role as cheerleading captain for Pacific Investment Management Co. and its $400 billion in assets, sees a ``con job perpetually foisted on the American public about the low level of inflation.'' quote.bloomberg.com