[HeadBanger]

The Price of Gas and Food Rises, Dollar declines

Dollar Declines Against Euro Before Housing, Sentiment Reports

By Gavin Finch and Kosuke Goto

May 16 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell for the first time in four days against the euro before reports that may show U.S. housing starts fell to a 17-year low and consumer confidence slumped to the weakest in 26 years.

The U.S. currency pared its weekly advance versus the euro after European Central Bank policy makers signaled they are unlikely to cut interest rates that are double those in the U.S. The yen was poised for its biggest weekly drop in a month versus the dollar and euro as Asian stock gains encouraged investors to increase holdings of higher-yielding assets funded in Japan.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Oil prices fall, gasoline rises
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/16/2008 01:33:58 AM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) - Oil futures ended a whipsaw session slightly lower Thursday as the expiration of options played havoc with prices, driving crude near record high levels at times and down by more than $3 a barrel at others. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, advanced past a national average of $3.77 a gallon.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_9279582

FOOD PRICES: COST OF GROCERIES GNAWS AT BUDGETS

By Elizabeth Lee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/15/08

Call it the $4 question.

Will a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk cross the mark first?

Food prices notched their largest one-month increase in 18 years in April, giving shoppers the kind of sticker shock that SUV owners are getting used to at the pump. Milk prices, which had retreated from last November's high of $3.90 for a gallon of whole milk, edged up to $3.80.

Higher costs for fuel and commodities are working their way through the food chain, pushing prices higher at retail. Food prices jumped 0.9 percent in April, with increases in all six grocery categories, according to Consumer Price Index figures released Wednesday.

It's shaping up as the second year of the highest food inflation in nearly two decades. Last year, food prices rose 4 percent.

Earlier this spring, government economists had predicted up to a 5 percent increase in food prices in 2008. That may change because of uncertainty over fuel prices, said Ephraim Leibtag, an economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food commodity price increases are starting to moderate, but fuel costs keep rising.

FOOD PRICES: COST OF GROCERIES GNAWS AT BUDGETS | ajc.com

Is anyone getting a raise?