Overall inflation has been a non-issue for a while, but in recent months it has begun to trend upward.

With much of the media focus on recently enacted health care reform legislation, pending financial reform, and the continuing large number of unemployed, the government's inflation reports for the most part have been pushed to the backburner - not eliciting much attention when released. One reason for the muted reaction: Overall inflation has been relatively benign to non-existent. But that may be changing.

The latest government data on inflation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that on a year-over-year basis prices at the producer level have begun to trend upward. In February, the index for finished goods was 4.4% above a year ago - the third monthly year-over-year increase in a row after 11 straight monthly declines. Granted, when food and energy are excluded, much of the increase disappears. The PPI for finished goods excluding food and energy was up 1.0% in February compared to a year ago. On a similar basis, the CPI was up 1.1% in March. These are not exactly the kind of inflation data that would generate deep concerns over an inflationary spiral.