In another sign of rapidly accelerating price inflation, import-export prices rose much faster than expected in May.
Import prices were up 1.1% month-on-month in May, and the Labor Department revised April’s increase from 0.7% to 0.8%. Projections for May were for a 0.7% increase. The actual number was higher than the high end of estimates.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its June meeting. While the central bank didn’t raise rates, the messaging coming out of the FOMC was widely viewed as hawkish. But was it really?
We don’t think so. In fact, the Fed’s messaging was extremely dovish. And the fact that it continues to ignore inflation doesn’t bode well for the future.
The CPI data came in higher than expected again in May. Looking at the trend, this should cast some serious doubt on the notion that inflation is “transitory.” Price data has come out hotter than expected every month this year. But the market reaction appears to be the exact opposite. The worse than expected CPI report seems to have reinforced the “inflation is transitory” narrative. Everybody seems to be buying into a lie the Fed is spoon-feeding us.
We got the May Consumer Price (CPI) Index data last week. Once again, it came in hotter than expected. In this article, we break down the data and show that this surge of inflation is anything by transitory.
In the first place, it’s important to remember that the CPI is reverse-engineered to mask inflation. It doesn’t really tell the whole story. But even half the story is pretty bad.
We got another round of hotter than expected CPI data this week. The mainstream financial media is spinning this as good news. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey digs into the CPI data without the rose-colored glasses. He also talks about an announcement by a major restaurant chain that may well be a canary in the coal mine. His conclusion – in the end, economics wins.
Government programs, political campaigns and wishful thinking can’t trump economics. In the end, economics always wins.
Chipotle’s recently announced menu price hikes bear this out.
High inflation is the worst-kept secret out there, but the government, central bankers and financial media have all downplayed the threat. The folks at the Federal Reserve keep telling us that rising prices are “transitory,” the product of a robust and fast-moving post-pandemic economic recovery.
One of the reasons often given for rising prices is “supply chain bottlenecks” caused by the sudden recovery in demand. But a dive into the data reveals that most commodity prices have risen in tandem in an environment of wide levels of spare capacity, and in some cases, even overcapacity. The supply chain isn’t the problem. The money is the problem.
Average Americans are worried about inflation, but the mainstream financial media doesn’t think they should be. Even though inflation is a hot topic, the conversation seems to primarily center around the notion that inflation is overblown. In this article, we explain why this mainstream media spin downplaying inflation is dead wrong.
The Fed claims inflation isn’t a concern. The central bankers don’t want us to worry about it. In fact, they would just as soon keep the whole inflation issue a secret. But Americans are worried. Searches for the word “inflation” hit an all-time high on Google trends in May.
In fact, inflation is the worst-kept secret out there.
With some positive economic data coming out this week, investors suddenly went bullish on the economy again and decided that the Fed is surely going to deal with inflation now. Will it though? In this Friday Gold Wrap Podcast episode, host Mike Maharrey speculates about the Fed’s next move. He also looks ahead and talks about the long-term future of the dollar. Can we assume it will always be the reserve currency?
