Three letters that we’re all too familiar with by now: SBF, SVB and CPI. Today, we get to look at CPI — the Consumer Price Index — which measures the change in consumer prices. February’s CPI report came out yesterday, and here are the headline numbers: CPI rose 0.4% in February from the previous month…
Read more
Play-By-Play: Our Date With Inflation
How’d our date go with inflation, you ask? We’ll let you in on the 🫖. As promised, the play-by-play: With all the recent talk about how hot inflation would be, we were nervous going in. So nervous, this was our order… 1/ Our date came in stronger than expected. Inflation dropped to 6.4% — vs….
Read more
December CPI report: Philadelphia Fed President expects rates to rise “a few more times this year.”
Expectations met. December’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report came out yesterday, and here are the key numbers: The overall CPI was up 6.5% from a year earlier — the lowest since Oct. 2021. Core CPI (excl. food and energy) rose 5.7% from a year earlier — the lowest pace since Dec. 2021. Compared to the…
Read more
November inflation data: Is the pain finally over?
Let’s all bid inflation the farewell it deserves. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the key measure of inflation. The November CPI report was released yesterday, giving investors some good news: Inflation is finally consistently declining. Monthly: CPI increased 0.1% compared to the previous month (vs. 0.3% forecasted). Yearly: CPI increased 7.1% compared to a…
Read more
Inflation is slowing, but don’t get too excited
Markets posted some massive numbers after yesterday’s inflation report: S&P 500 (+5.5%) and Nasdaq (+7.3%). NBD. Compared to the previous year: The Consumer Price Index (a measure of inflation) was up 7.7%. Core prices (excluding volatile food and energy) — increased 6.3% but were down from a 40-year high. The monthly increase was 0.4% (CPI)…
Read more
What’s really driving inflation? Fed policies or greedflation?
There’s heavy debate on where inflation is coming from. Is it the massive increase in money supply, rising wage and input costs or greedflation? (Greed what? We’ll explain). They thought we wouldn’t notice… Typically, rising prices would lead to lower demand. But in recent years, product shortages have kept demand strong. This leads us to…
Read more
Food prices are too damn high; here’s what can bring them down
Rising food costs have become one of consumers’ biggest headaches. For many, it’s turned into a full-blown crisis. In August, home food preparation costs and dining out prices were up 13.5% and 8% from last year, respectively. Some of the highest increases in food costs: eggs (39.8%), chicken (16.6%) and flour (23.3%). Why are food…
Read more
August inflation data came in way worse than expected
Expectations: Inflation to come in much lower than the previous month — taking the S&P 500 to a better place. Reality: Inflation came in higher than expected in the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) report — sending markets lower yesterday. Here are the August numbers: CPI increased 8.3% from a year ago (8.5% in July,…
Read more
Positive economic data gives investors reasons to be optimistic
After months of doom and gloom in the markets, investors have found reasons to be optimistic — sending the S&P 500 up 12% over the past month. Supply chains are getting better… Supply chain issues are a problem we’re all too familiar with. After nearly two years of non-stop surprises (i.e., COVID, Russia) — shipping…
Read more
Good News: Inflation Expectations are Falling
Consumer inflation expectations have fallen for the second month in a row — per the latest Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey: In one year, consumers expect inflation to be 6.2% — down from the 6.8% expected the month before. In three years, consumers expect inflation to be 3.2% — down from the 3.6%…
Read more