Category: CPI

Capitol Report (Nov. 10): Election Results Drag On in Battleground States; Election Integrity Concerns in PA

A tight race is unfolding in the battleground state of Nevada as ballot counting continues. What is the balance of power looking like as of now in Congress? The elections are over, but there are still no answers as to who won in many key races throughout the country. Pennsylvania’s race for senator has been…


US Inflation Eases Below 8 Percent for First Time Since February

The U.S. annual inflation rate eased to 7.7 percent in October, down from 8.2 percent in September, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The core inflation rate, which eliminates the volatile energy and food sectors, also dropped to 6.3 percent last month, down from 6.6 percent. On a month-over-month basis,…


US Inflation Eases to 7.7 Percent, Lowest Level Since January

The U.S. annual inflation rate eased to 7.7 percent in October, down from 8.2 percent in September, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The core inflation rate, which eliminates the volatile energy and food sectors, also dropped to 6.3 percent last month, down from 6.6 percent. On a month-over-month basis,…


Hong Kong Economy in Deep Water as Interest Rates Rise in Tandem With China and US Markets

The economy has been tense all over the world due to fuel and gas price increases, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and rampant inflation. In response to the high domestic inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve increased the interest rate five times this year. Since Hong Kong’s system depends on the linked exchange rate…


‘White House Is Now Measuring Inflation in Inches’: House Committee Hears About Biden’s ‘Bizarre’ Take on How Prices Work

The blowback from President Joe Biden’s weekend remarks about prices rising “just an inch, hardly at all” continued during the week, with the House Oversight Committee hearing from one of its members during a session on Sept. 22 on corporate profiteering that “the White House is now measuring inflation in inches,” and is downplaying the pain…


Inflation: Where Are We Now?

Commentary Well, that left nothing to the imagination. The August CPI report, in fact, buried the idea that inflation is abating and that new “juice” from the Fed is just around the corner. Again, the trusty 16 percent trimmed mean CPI, which removes short-term fluctuations from the trend, made it abundantly clear that inflation has…


White House Doubles Down on ‘Zero’ Inflation Narrative

While on CNN’s “OutFront, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, on Aug. 11, doubled down on President Biden’s statement this week that there was “zero” inflation. She stood by Biden’s zero inflation narrative by claiming that inflation was on the ebb, after the latest annual data from July showed inflation grow at 0.0. “I would…


Recession or Not, Doublespeak Persists

Commentary  It seems as if we have conflicting reports inside the minds of America’s economic and business elite. While recessions are generally easy to define, this time the powers that be are having trouble. Are we in a recession or not? Officially, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) committee, which decides and records recessions…


The Great Squeeze in Profit Margins

Commentary It’s beyond me why the Consumer Price Index (CPI) garners so much attention from the press, but the statistical release the following day barely makes a dent in the news cycle. That is the Producer Price Index (PPI). In many ways, the PPI is more important because it forecasts the plight of the consuming…


CPI Wednesday Delivered Very Bad News

Commentary Yesterday afternoon, the financial markets were roiled by an early release of the Consumer Price Index that turned out to be a fake. It looked real and markets were flooded with sellers because the number came in at 10.2 percent year over year. That would imply more extreme efforts by the Fed to crack…