单选题
Wholesale prices in July rose more sharply than expected and at a faster rate than consumer prices,
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that businesses were still protecting consumers
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the full brunt (冲击) of higher energy costs.
The Producer Price Index,
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measures what producers receive for goods and services,
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1 percent in July, the Labor Department reported yesterday, double
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economists had been expecting and a sharp turn around from flat prices in June. Excluding
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and energy, the core index of producer prices rose0.4 percent,
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than the0.1 percent that economists had
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. Much of that increase was result of an
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increase in car and truck prices.
On Tuesday, the Labor Department said the
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that consumers paid for goods and services in July were
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0.5 percent over all, and up0.1 percent, excluding food and energy.
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the overall rise in both consumer and producer prices
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caused by energy costs, which increased 4.4 percent in the month. (Wholesale food prices
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0.3 percent in July.)
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July 2004, wholesale prices were up 4.6 percent; the core rate
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2.8 percent, its fastest pace since 1995.
Typically, increases in the Producer Price Index indicate similar changes in the consumer index
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businesses recoup (补偿) higher costs from customers.
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for much of this expansion, which started
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the end of 2001, that has not been the
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. In fact, many businesses like automakers have been aggressively discounting their products.