After standing at unaccustomed ease through the spring and most of the long summer, prices are beginning an upward march. The consumer price index, which had been slowly creeping up earlier in the year, increased 0.4% in July to a record 116.5or 16.5% above the 1957-59 base level. More significant was a stirring in the cost of basic industrial products that generally foreshadows general price trends. After five months of stability, industrial goods rose a substantial 0.3% in August.
The figures do not even begin to reflect many increases announced over the past several weeks. Since the beginning of August, higher...