Consumer prices up a slight 0.1% in July
Consumer prices rose by a mere 0.1 percent in July, indicating that the economy's recovery, however slow, will not be hampered by economists' bogyman, inflation.</br></br>* Any growth by businesses will be the result of increased productivity and not higher prices riding an inflation bubble.</br></br>"These numbers reflect the fact that growth is moderate," said Bruce Steinberg, manager of macroeconomic analysis at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. "The things that you look for to tell you that inflation's coming back--they just ain't there right now."</br></br>July's 0.1 percent rise in the consumer price index, which is based on a monthly survey of the prices of more than 80,000 consumer goods, followed a month of no change in June and a 0.1 percent increase in May--the best three-month inflation performance in seven years.</br></br>In the first seven months of the year, consumer prices have risen at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent. Last year's inflation rate was 2.9 percent.