By LEN BOSELOVIC, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast that food prices will only rise 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent this year, less than the 1.8 percent increases in 2008 and 2009 and the lowest rate of food inflation since 1992.

Enjoy it while you can, commodities followers say.

As federal lawgivers wrangle over a regulatory regime to prevent a recurrence of the credit-driven shenanigans of recent years, there are indications of potential problems with a fraud detection mechanism they prescribed eight years ago.

The shadow cast by the death of 25 coal miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine has eclipsed the one cast by the larger than life figure who has influenced economic and political life in West Virginia: Massey Energy chairman and CEO Don Blankenship.

When the big-name stars of Corporate America convene this spring for the rigorously scripted dramas known as annual shareholder meetings, the dwindling cast of bit players could be even smaller than in years past.

Take Jeffrey M. Klink's word for it: You can never be too careful, but reasonably intelligent people frequently aren't.

Raw-materials junkies can appreciate the impact that China has on prices for the ingredients used to make steel and other metals. For those who can't, consider this data, courtesy of the International Iron and Steel Institute.

With the stock market up about 60 percent since bottoming out in March, Wall Street may appear to be not as dangerous a place to those who fled for safer havens when the market collapsed last fall.

But making a long-term decision based on short-term phenomenon can be risky business, as documented in a report T. Rowe Price sent to investors this month.

Early returns indicate the recession is causing more people to take withdrawals from their retirement plans for reasons other than rolling them over to other plans or because they've retired.

The Federal Reserve Board last week kindled hope that the nation's longest recession since World War II is nearing an end.

The central bank's survey of current economic conditions showed that among the Fed's 12 districts, economic activity has firmed up in one, improved in five and stabilized or showed signs of stabilizing in another six.

A lawsuit recently filed in federal court in Pittsburgh provides a cautionary tale about just how different mutual funds with similar names or objectives can be.