Wholesale price increases, however, accelerated a bit in June. A similar pattern can be seen in reports from industrial purchasing managers . In other words, the proportion of purchasing managers who note rising prices is now about even with those who see them declining. The latest Blue Chip survey indicates that economists expect next year's inflation rates to be similar to this year's.
Contrary opinions appear to be few and evenly balanced.
A large share of that difference stems from prices of nonresidential investment goods , which have been strongly affected by continued sharp declines in computer prices. This is not a particularly new development. Even within the consumer goods area, price increases reported by the chain-weighted index have been running below the CPI, partly because the former puts different weights on certain commodities . Among the important differences is that housing is weighted more heavily in the CPI, while medical care receives a smaller weight. Still, the impact of computer prices is clear here also.