The general price level in 2010 relative to 2009 shows average price levels that are nearly flat. The reason for this trend is significant commodity price increases in 2007 and 2008 that collapsed after the global financial crisis. Much of the reason for the price volatility in commodities is leveraged buying and selling through hedge funds that drove prices up during the bubble and precipitated a price crash after the bubble collapsed as many entities were simultaneously deleveraging their positions. To demonstrate this phenomenon, we have graphed the Consumer Price Index for Urban residents (CPI-U), Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG) and Producer Price Index for All Commodities (PPI-AC) from 1995 up to the present time.
