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Gas prices have fallen sharply in recent months after spiking this summer. Prices at the pump averaged $3.29 a gallon nationwide on Wednesday. That's about the same as a month ago and well below summer prices that nearly touched $4 a gallon. Prices are likely to stay low in the early months of 2013, based on a measure of wholesale prices reported Tuesday. The producer price index, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer, fell for the third straight month in December. Wholesale food prices dropped by the most in 19 months, largely because of a sharp drop in beef and veal costs. Vegetable and cheese prices also declined. Not everything was cheaper at the wholesale level. The cost of women's and girls' clothes jumped by the most in nine years. Fresh fruit prices also rose. With inflation tame, the Fed has ramped up its efforts to boost growth. It decided last month to keep buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds in an effort to lower borrowing costs and encourage more spending. The Fed also said last month that it planned to keep its key short-term interest rate at a record low even after unemployment falls to 6.5 percent
-- which it said might take three more years. Unemployment remains high at 7.8 percent.
[Associated
Press;
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