Latest Inflation Stories
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The cost of healthcare for individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance rose 4.0 percent in the third quarter of 2011 versus the third quarter of 2010 and 0.9 percent versus the second quarter of 2011, according to the Thomson Reuters Healthcare Spending Index for Private Insurance. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090507/NY12658LOGO ) The index, which measures historical and current levels of per capita...
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Private sector workers likely will see slightly fatter wage increases in the coming months, according to the final fourth quarter Wage Trend Indicator(TM) (WTI) released today by Bloomberg BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120110/DC33627LOGO) The forward-looking index rose in the fourth quarter for the sixth straight time, to 98.52 (second quarter 1976 =...
NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence(TM), which had declined in the third quarter, improved in the last quarter of 2011. The Measure now reads 49, up from 42 in the previous quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses). Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: "The bounce back in CEO Confidence in the final months of 2011 was due primarily to an...
Study provides evidence that retails chains, and not just individual stores, explains variation in price dynamics A study by Columbia Business School Professor Emi Nakamura, Chazen Senior Scholar at The Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business at Columbia Business School and David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business, Finance and Economics, featured in the Journal of Econometrics, found that retailer characteristics are crucial determinants of heterogeneity in pricing...
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. economy will improve in 2012 but remain sluggish, weighed down by slow job creation, weaker global economic growth, and lingering fallout from the recession, according to BNA's annual Economic Outlook released today. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090105/56509LOGO ) The consensus forecast of the 26 economists at 21 leading financial, consulting, and academic organizations across the United States...
HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- At Smith McKenna precious metals trading advisors, Stephen Smith, the company's founder, is an expert at accurately forecasting gold, silver, copper and other precious metal commodities market trends. "Movements in spot prices for many commodities are totally predictable, when you consider all the factors that affect supply and demand. My research indicates we are in for a huge shift in 2012! It is imperative for precious metals...
ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Annual wage gains in the private sector are on track to improve in the coming months, according to the revised fourth quarter Wage Trend Indicator(TM) (WTI) released today by BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090105/56509LOGO) The WTI climbed to 98.48 (second quarter 1976 = 100) from 98.36 in the third quarter. If confirmed by the final fourth quarter...
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Turner Construction Company announced that the Fourth Quarter 2011 Turner Building Cost Index increased marginally over the Third Quarter of 2011. The Turner Building Cost Index measures costs in the non-residential building construction market in the United States. The Turner Building Cost Index of 818 reflects a 0.49% increase from the Third Quarter 2011 and 2.12% yearly increase from the Fourth Quarter 2010. Karl F. Almstead, the Turner vice...
SAO PAULO, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- E-commerce prices for consumers registered deflation of 9.6% from January to November of this year. This is what is indicated by the Fipe Buscape Index (Indice Fipe Buscape), which is being launched today to provide, starting now, from month to month an x-ray of prices for more than 1.3 million products in Brazilian e-commerce. Also according to the Index, the category exhibiting the greatest price drop, of 21.8%, was Photography, and the one showing...
While the price of oil has risen in recent years, it has not affected the price of goods as much as in the past, according to research by two Kansas State University economists. More than that, the prices of many goods -- such as clothing or vacations -- are actually deflating instead of inflating because of improved technology and reduced energy costs. Lance Bachmeier, associate professor of economics, and Inkyung Cha, adjunct professor of economics, discuss oil shocks and inflation in...
Latest Inflation Reference Libraries
Quintessence (Dark Energy) -- Quintessence or dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy postulated to exist in order to explain observations of an accelerating universe. This energy would act like a vacuum pressure, pushing things apart. Other attempts to explain these recent observations involve a non-zero cosmological constant, which has the same effect. Indeed, sometimes quintessence is said to result in a non-zero cosmological constant, and conversely a non-zero cosmological...
Cosmological Constant -- The cosmological constant (usually denoted by the Greek capital letter lambda: Λ) is a value occurring in Einstein's theory of general relativity. The units of Λ are 1/second2; its value is unknown but believed to be positive based on recent observations. The constant is proportional to the energy density of the vacuum Ï, where Ï€ is Pi, G is the gravitational constant and c is the speed of light in vacuum. The term can be postive, negative, or...
Inflation -- Inflation is the idea - first proposed by Alan Guth (1981) - that the nascent universe passed through a phase of exponential expansion that was driven by a negative vacuum energy density (positive vacuum pressure). This expansion can be modelled by a non-zero cosmological constant. As a direct consequence of this expansion, all of the observable universe is posited to have originated in a small, initially causally-connected region. Quantum fluctuations in this microscopic...
Accelerating universe -- In the late 1990s, observations of type I supernova produced the unexpected result that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating. These observations appear more firm as new data has appeared. This means that the speed with which a distant galaxy recedes from us increases over time. If this trend continues, eventually we won't be able to see any other galaxies any more. This new theory of the end of the Universe has been called the Big Rip....
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) -- The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was launched on June 30, 2001 at 3:46 p.m. EDT at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. The goal of WMAP was to map out minute differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation which would help test theories of the nature of the universe. On February 11, 2003, the public relations group from NASA made a press release regarding the age and composition of the universe....
