This can’t go on forever. Fastenal noted that inflation in fuel prices, shipping services and stainless steel continued in the first quarter and said that the company would increase its prices as needed to offset that impact. Prices paid to U.S. producers jumped 11.2% in March from a year earlier and 1.4% from February, both records, the Labor Department said separately on Wednesday. Eventually, there is some breaking point at which price increases start to deter purchases. But at least as far as these two corners of the industrial world are concerned, that point hasn’t been reached yet.
Read more: Industrial Worry Shifts From Supply to Demand
There are idiosyncratic reasons industrial distributors and airlines might be more isolated from inflationary pressures….