I had been expecting this. There was an article out in several publications stating that LCD prices were about to take a huge price hit. The reason is that the industry expected a large pick up at this time and produced a TON of LCDs. The problem was that since the economy slowed down, there was a glut of LCDs out there. To stimulate buying, LCD makers dropped prices considerably AND slowed down their production of LCDs. All of a sudden people started buying the hell out of them, and there has now become a shortage of LCDs. Thus, the price has shot up.
That's why I was hell-bent on getting my LCD before March. Most publications stated that the shortage would start in the spring and continue through the summer. However, by summer a ton more LCDs will be produced and the market will take a dip again. That's how it fluxuates.
I also watch the prices of other hardware. Prices for memory has remained the same, prices for hard disks has continued to go lower, prices on monitors have gone up, prices on motherboards and CPU's are stable (other than versions outmoded by new releases which have gone down), prices for network products went up slightly but are still low, prices on printers is low and staying low.
If you have sticker shock on any stuff, check out NEWEGG.COM. GREAT ordering location and great prices.
Ron