Wholesale Prices End Steep Rise: Wholesale Cost Index Ends 4-Month Climb
A steep four-month climb in wholesale prices stopped abruptly last month, the Department of Labor reported yesterday, giving policy makers some encouragement that the nation is not headed for another bout with heavy inflation.</br></br>The November wholesale price report allayed some economistsÛª fears that the economy was in for a bout of rising prices with lit fie, if any, increase in production and employmentÛÓa situation described as ÛÏstagflation.ÛªÛª Farm prices fell 2.6 per cent in November, after huge increases of 4.3 per cent in September and 2,2 per cent in October. Prices of industrial commodities rose 0.6 per cent, well below their 1.2 per cent, increase in October.</br></br>rather are those paid by middlemen, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. Changes in wholesale prices do portend changes in retail prices, and such changes as farm product increases and decreases tend to show up quickly in consumer prices.</br></br>The wholesale price index in November stood at 178.2 per cent of its 1967 average, meaning that items that cost $100 in 1967 cost $178.20 in November. On average, wholesale prices are only 3.7 per cent higher than they were a year ago.</br></br>Between November. 1973, and November, 1974, by contrast, wholesale prices jumped 23.5 per cent as (lie nation went through its worst inflation in decades.