Wholesale prices for finished goods have risen 2.8 percent since June last year, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG) actually represents a fourth consecutive month in which the rate of price inflation has slowed. In March, the year-over-year increase in PPI-FG peaked at 6.0 percent, and was followed in April and May with increases of 5.5 and 5.3 percent, respectively.

Is an inflationary breakout in the cards, or a deflationary breakdown? We run the numbers to make the call.

There's no need to wait for the June 17 release of U.S. Consumer Price Index data. The long-feared double-dip recession is here. At least as measured by the HAI Monetary Inflation Index.

This week's release of the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index data for April was greeted with a shrug. The numbers were benign. But think back a month. March PPI figures showed wholesale prices for finished goods spiking up to 6.0 percent—the fastest rate since September 2008.

Drumroll, please. The International Monetary Fund's quarterly tally of central bank foreign exchange reserve holdings has just been released. The largest allocation—at 62.1 percent—is given over to the U.S. dollar.

Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): 2.0%

It's that time of the month again. For our visit with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I mean. Yesterday, the government released the February update to the Producer Price Index (PPI) and followed on with this morning's publication of the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In contrast to the yearly trend in producer prices, U.S. consumer prices rose at a slightly lower rate in January. Over the 12 months ending in January, the Consumer Price Index increased at a 2.6 percent rate, a tenth of a percent lower than the rate booked in December. Wholesale prices, measured by the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, stepped up by a tenth of a percent, at 4.6 percent rate.

Inflation's a hot topic ‘round here. Has been for quite a while. There has been, especially, a lot of heat and light generated about the Consumer Price Index. Many people distrust the government's numbers.

Despite year-over-year increases in goods prices, real-time measures of monetary inflation gave the Fed a little more room to maintain its accommodative stance this week. Producer prices for finished goods rose 4.4 percent over the past year, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday. Earlier, the BLS reported consumer prices rising at a 2.7 percent annual pace.

Monetary indicators, supplied by the gold and foreign exchange markets, gave the Fed more ammunition this week for an eventual withdrawal of its accommodation.