Inflation Bonds Tip the Scale

Here's a tip: Don't expect TIPS funds to take flight just because inflation is finally showing up in the official data.

A pair of reports last week from the Institute for Supply Management may have shown contrasting results -- the services index plummeted in September, while manufacturing rose -- but they did share rapidly rising inflation gauges.

In the manufacturing survey, the prices paid index surged from 62.5 in August to 78 in September. In the service sector index, the prices paid index jumped from 67.1 to 81.4, which was the index's highest reading since it was created in 1997. ...