PNC Christmas Price Index on Track With Economic Indicators



A sluggish economy coupled with weak demand has kept the 2011 PNC Christmas Price Index (PNC CPI) to a moderate gain of 3.5% in the whimsical economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management based on the gifts in the holiday classic, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

According to the 28th annual survey, the price tag for the PNC CPI is $24,263.18 in 2011, $823.80 more than last year and less than half the increase seen in 2010. Still, that comes on the heels of a more modest 1.8% increase two years ago at the end of the recession.

As part of its annual tradition, PNC Wealth Management also tabulates the “True Cost of Christmas,” which is the total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song’s verses. This holiday season is the most expensive year ever: very generous True Loves have to fork over $101,119.84 for all 364 gifts, a 4.4% increase compared to last year.

“As the economy continues to struggle, we are seeing weakness in some areas of demand within the Index,” said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. “That is illustrated in the costs of the Five Gold Rings. While gold commodity prices are at or near record highs, the demand for retail gold is waning, and thus our Five Gold Rings actually dropped by 0.8% this year.”

Although the economic trends affect both indexes, this year the PNC CPI’s increase is exceptionally close to the government’s Consumer Price Index, which grew 3.9% over the last 12 months.

To read the full text of the PNC news release: click here.


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