Yesterday the stock market was buoyed by unexpectedly good
inflation report.
What specifically was the good news that got the market so giddy?
The lower inflation reflected a flat reading for energy, which helped offset a 0.9 percent jump in food. That was the biggest one-month surge since a 1.5 percent increase in January 1990.
Last month's increase was driven by widespread increases in a number of areas from bread, butter and margarine to milk and coffee. Food prices have been climbing rapidly over the past year, reflecting higher world demand and the impact of increasing energy prices on the cost of fertilizer and transportation of products to grocery store shelves.
For April, energy prices were unchanged and gasoline prices even fell by 2 percent, a decline that would strike motorists as strange, given that they have been watching the price of gasoline rise relentlessly in recent weeks.