Economic Trends

COMMODITY PRICES COULD BE SAYING THE WORST IS OVER

If factories are about to shed inventories, there's little hint in the recent behavior of the Commodity Research Bureau's spot-price index of industrial raw materials. Economist Edward E. Yardeni of Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. notes that the index plunged from 321.32 on Oct. 1 to 302.89 on Nov. 30 but hardly budged in December. The index's recent stability, says Yardeni, suggests that "the worst may be over and that a recovery may not be far away."GENE KORETZ