prop uped by increased market deman...

prop uped by increased market demand, prices for construction materials have been trending more powerfully upward in recent months. Although overall inflation remains subdu -- the one and the other the Consumer and agriculturist Price Indexes were rising at les than a 3 percent annualized rate as we neared the period of 1993 -- inflation for construction materials has significantly outpaced the rate for most numerous other product categories.

The sharp run-up in lumber prices goe a lengthy ways toward explaining this gap. Prices surg in the spring -- largely forward the wings of the spott owl scare -- before