• 519 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 519 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 521 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 921 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 926 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 928 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 931 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 931 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 932 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 934 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 934 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 938 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 938 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 939 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 941 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 942 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 945 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 946 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 946 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 948 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Michael Pento

Michael Pento

Delta Global

With more than 16 years of industry experience, Michael Pento acts as chief economist for Delta Global Advisors and is a contributing writer for GreenFaucet.com.…

Contact Author

  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

The New Fall Fashion is Inflation

Get ready to be hit by some startling inflation data. The data soon to be released by the government will put a dagger through the hearts of those who are predicting a protracted period of deflation. Wall Street and Washington are telling you inflation isn't something we need to be concerned about for years to come. The truth is starting this October the reported Consumer Price Inflation data will become ugly. That is because the year over year comparisons of energy and commodity prices become very unfavorable.

To start off, there is little evidence even now of deflation in the current year's data. Already we find if we annualize the first six months of inflation data in 2009, the rate of CPI is running at a 2.8% annual rate. But the focus has been on the year over year change, which has been very quiescent--negative 1% for May and -1.2% in June. The YOY negative CPI print has been the direct result of plummeting energy and commodity prices.

How important are commodity prices in the CPI calculation you ask? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the relative importance of commodities in the CPI index is 39.556%!

For the immediate future the storm clouds of inflation will not visible to all. The price of oil has been halved from its peak of $147 a barrel last summer to $70. And the Reuters Jeffries CRB Index has fallen from $400 to just over $260 as of today.

Therefore, the inflation data coming out for July will have the benefit of over a 50% decline in the price of oil as compared to last year. And the August data will also enjoy the pleasure of a 35% decline in the CRB Index from a year ago. However if we assume today's prices, come December the CRB Index will be up 26% instead of down 35%. And instead of being down 50%, the price of oil will be up 100% come Christmas.

The soon to be reported surge in inflation will primarily be the result of a continued weakening in the US dollar. Our efforts to ignite the reflation of the housing market have been placed on the back of a depreciating currency. A strengthening dollar and a deflationary environment just can't exist while the monetary base has doubled in the past year and with an 8% increase in M2.

This gives Ben Bernanke reprieve from addressing the weak currency and inflation for the next few meetings -- including the one taking place today. But come November, the spotlight on the FOMC meeting will be especially intense and bright. The Fed will either have to decide to defend the dollar or allow inflation (even as reported and acknowledged by the government) to run way above their target level of 2%. The point remains the same however; he must soon provide a real rate of return for savers while at the same time most likely putting a nail in the coffin of this recovery or seek to continue our inflation and debt addictions.

*Tired of paying fees while your account value plummets? Learn about our new performance-based pricing.

Be sure to listen in on my Mid-Week Reality Check
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/michaelpento

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment