Economic news remains largely awesome

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

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Thus by value sales were up 5%. By volume they were flat.

I don't think so. Retailers were ordering more stock to hedge against further price increases. They can't make money stockpiling more than they think they will sell unless the price keeps climbing. So if they think it will keep going up, they buy to their storage capacity, betting the increased value of their holdings will make more, than the money would make invested elsewhere.