A year ago, prices of more-frequently-bought products were rising more rapidly than the prices of less-frequently-bought products, which may have added fuel to the inflationary expectations fire. Why? Because consumers' expectations are driven largely by what they see in their daily purchases of food, gasoline and other frequently-purchased items. When buying a product infrequently, such as a new car or major appliance for example, years may have gone by since they last purchased. They may not remember the price paid previously and moreover characteristics of the product may have changed substantially. So expectations are driven mostly by the prices of products purchased frequently. Now the inflation rates for the two groups of products are the same, implying this aspect of the inflationary expectations formation process has disappeared, for now at least.