What the Floods Mean

Gary Thayer of Wachovia Bank(WB) has been studying the impact of the recent flooding in America's Midwest.Over the next year,the resulting spike in commodities will mean an 80% increase in corn prices.It will probably push food inflation over 5%-maybe to 6% or so,Mr.Thayer said.The damage to Iowa is pretty close to that of the 1993 floods.Probably we will see a distortion in economic data for the next few weeks because of the floods.From this point going forward,we're going to be getting concrete data,as opposed to anecdotes.The floods will probably affect us for the rest of the year,Mr.Thayer predicted.Crop losses are projected at over three billion dollars U.S.,and it's too late to replant.