Category: inflation

Seller Inflation Is a Myth Created by Statism

Commentary Interventionists always blame inflation on everything and anything except the only thing that makes aggregate prices rise: issuing more units of currency than the real demand. Seller inflation is the same excuse and fallacy as cost-push inflation. A way to confuse citizens and assign causation to something that cannot make aggregate prices rise. Let…


Euro Drops After Weak Business Activity Data, Central Banks in Focus

SYDNEY/LONDON—The euro slid on Monday after activity data in key economies came in much softer than expected, giving markets a jolt at the start of a week packed with central bank meetings at which investors expect rate hikes in Europe and the United States. The European common currency fell 0.4 percent to $1.1083, skidding after…


Weak PMIs, Spain Election Uncertainty Dent Sentiment

London—World stocks slipped on Monday, with weak business activity data and an inconclusive election result in Spain weighing on sentiment in Europe ahead of a central bank-packed week for markets. German business activity contracted in July, increasing the likelihood of a recession in the second half of the year, the German Flash Composite Purchasing Managers’…


Canadians Not Happy With Ottawa’s Management of Economy, Affordability: Feds’ Poll

Federal government research has found that Canadians are dissatisfied with how the government is managing the economy and cost-of-living challenges. A report disclosed on July 20, “Continuous Qualitative Data Collection of Canadians’ Views,” found that “almost all” of those polled “had a negative opinion regarding the federal government’s management of the economy in recent years,” according…


Potential Labor Strikes Worsen Companies’ Inflation Struggle

Commentary Businesses have already been struggling with inflation for more than a year. But this summer, the biggest wave of labor strikes in more than 50 years will further complicate their inflation fight. Almost 700,000 workers, across several companies in different industries, are threatening to go on strike this summer in an effort to secure…


US Mortgage Rates Fall in Biggest Decline Since March

U.S. mortgage rates dropped from an eight-month high, after nearing 7 percent last week, as inflation slows ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Fed’s aggressive interest-rate hike policy sent mortgage rates well above 7 percent last year, causing the once booming housing market to crash. Rates have been slow to decline from the nearly two-decade high,…


The Fed Is Raising Rates, but What About the $8.3 Trillion Balance Sheet?

All financial eyes will be on next week’s policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The futures market is penciling in a quarter-point increase to the benchmark federal funds rate. But while all the focus among economists, investors, and market analysts is on interest rates, what about the Federal Reserve’s massive balance sheet?…


ANALYSIS: The Fed Is Raising Rates, but What About the $8.3 Trillion Balance Sheet?

News Analysis All financial eyes will be on next week’s policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The futures market is penciling in a quarter-point increase to the benchmark federal funds rate. But while all the focus among economists, investors, and market analysts is on interest rates, what about the Federal Reserve’s massive…


High Expectations, Monetary Policy Cause Debt Burden

Commentary High expectations and disastrous monetary policy have put Americans into a vicious debt spiral. In the first quarter of 2023, American household debt hit a record high of $17.05 trillion, about 73 percent of the nation’s GDP. One of the many issues with the high debt rates that Americans carry is that with rising…


The Slide Into Prolonged Economic Stagnation

Commentary Economic data these days is so convoluted and confusing, and the interpretations so filtered through political blather, it becomes difficult to know what the truth is. Another way to put this, it’s hard to square one’s personal experience with the broader claims from the top that all is well. To hear the Biden administration…