Stocking inflation?

26 November 2012 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

Easy money hasn’t made turtle doves and other “Twelve Days of Christmas” gifts much pricier. The cost is up a below-average 2.6 pct, excluding swans. Thanksgiving was under 1 pct more expensive, against a rise in the U.S. CPI of 2.2 pct. There’s no inflation to unwrap this year.

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PNC Financial Services on Nov. 26 released its annual Christmas Price Index, pegging the cost of the gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” at $25,431.18 this year, an increase of 4.8 percent over 2011. PNC attributed the increase to a drought-induced surge in the cost of feed for large birds.
Excluding the volatile and expensive “seven swans a-swimming” component, the index is up 2.6 percent over last year, well below the average since 1986 of 4.4 percent.
The American Farm Bureau Federation on Nov. 8 said the retail cost of a classic Thanksgiving menu was 0.6 percent higher this year than in 2011, at $49.48 for 10 people.
The U.S. consumer price index rose 2.2 percent in the year to October.

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