Headline CPI shows the second highest increase since 2021M01.
Category Archives: inflation
Grocery Prices Decline
The latest CPI release indicates a decline in food-at-home prices.
Instantaneous Core Inflation Drops, Core CPI Level below Consensus
From the CPI release today.
CPI and PCE Deflator Differential and Differences – Edition LXVII
Reader Bruce Hall writes:
Stagflation Fears? March NBER Business Cycle Indicators and Instantaneous Inflation
That’s a term that is invoked in a CNN article today. I think of stagflation as weak growth combined with high inflation. A little context:
Should Wisconsinites Trust the JEC-Republicans State Inflation Tracker?
I’m not sure what it brings to the debate (see PolitiFact Wisconsin, WisconsinWatch).
Wisconsin Economic Activity and Inflation
Latest employment, coincident indices:
Different Measures of Consumer Prices
Since 2021M01, the CPI has risen 17.3% (log terms). By comparison, chained CPI and HICP have risen by approximately 16.5%. The PCE deflator has risen only 14.4% by March 2024 – but these are prices of goods and services produced, not of prices faced by consumers.
Food Inflation Moderates
But convergence in the East North Central portion of the Midwest is slower. Follow up to this post.
What Is Old Is New Again: Channeling Wright Patman
From Bloomberg:
But Jack Manley at JPMorgan Chase argues that the Fed’s current rate range of 5.25% to 5.5% are actually inflationary at this point, and that prices won’t stabilize more until the the central bank starts cutting.
“A lot of what’s going on with inflation today can be linked very closely with the level of interest rates,” Manley said. “You slice and dice inflation and whether you’re looking at the headline number, whether you’re looking at the core number, you’re removing the goods equation — so much of it has to do with the rate environment.”
Apparently, Dr. Stephanie Kelton is an adherent of this view.