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Summary of My Post-CPI Tweets

Below is a summary of my post-CPI tweets. You can (and should!) follow me @inflation_guy or sign up for email updates to my occasional articles here. Investors with interests in this area be sure to stop by Enduring Investments. Plus...buy my book about money and inflation, just published! The title of the book is What's Wrong with Money? The Biggest Bubble of All; order from Amazon here.

  • Ah, CPI day!

  • Writing today from the skies above...Pennsylvania maybe? Hi Pennsylvania!

  • Not sure how well this will work...bear with me.

  • Street forecast for core is 0.182% or so m/m, rounding to 0.2% and 2.2% y/y.

  • But if core is only 0.187% m/m, y/y will rise to 2.3% after rounding. So a low hurdle for a "surprise"

  • Since this year core has averaged 0.208% (and 0.243% ex-March), I suspect a good chance of a 2.3% y/y print.

  • Over the next 2 months we have comparisons of 0.173% and 0.155% from year-ago, so core likely rises further.

  • As a reminder, median CPI is already at 2.53% and a 7-year high so such a move in core isn't a shock.

  • But all that is in the future. We get today's CPI in 14 minutes.

  • Note my response to tweet messages will be worse than normal today... from 35,000 feet this is a bit wonky.

  • 17% on core. y/y to 2.23% from 2.24%. Be still my heart.

  • Have to wait for the breakdown...not trusting numbers at this altitude. But looks like Medical Care jumped. Not sure what went dn then.

  • OK, Housing 2.39% from 2.38%. Apparel 0.42% from 0.53%; Medical Care - 3.65% from 3.17%! Small drips elsewhere.

  • Core services stayed 3.2% and core goods dripped to -0.6% y/y.

  • Within Housing: Primary rents 3.81% from 3.80%. Should keep rising. OER 3.25% from 3.26% ditto.

  • Big jump in Lodging Away from Home: small category and volatile but excites some people. Not me.

  • Motor vehicles -0.82% from -0.50%, still dragging on core goods.

  • In Medical Care: Drugs 3.40% from 2.34%. Yes, >1% acceleration in y/y. Volatile but...

  • Balancing that a bit was Professional Services 2.60% from 2.81%. But Hospital Services 4.12% from 3.25%.

  • And Health Insurance? +7.10% vs 6.30%. Thanks, ACA.

  • With drugs pushing core goods higher, not sure what was going the other way enough to make core goods decelerate some.

  • Good Lord they just said we're over Wisconsin. Already?

  • Take this projection for Median CPI with a grain of salt, but looks to me like +0.19% and the annual rate stays 2.5%.

  • biggest monthly declines were toddlers' apparel, jewelry and watches, footwear, and used cars/trucks.

  • biggest monthly gains in fuel oil, motor fuel, car and truck rental, and medical care commodities (drugs).

  • core ex-housing still fairly low at 1.37%.

  • Overall - core and median inflation still are in rising trends, but nothing particularly alarming about this month's figure.

  • Certainly, nothing that is going to turn Pres. Mester from talking about helicopter drops to talking about tightening.

  • That's all for now...thanks for bearing with me.

  • Be sure to look at our Crowdfunder equity raise: https://www.crowdfunder.com/enduring-investments-llc ... The subscription package is up and live!

Last month's core inflation number was not pretty. Medical care rose, rents jumped, and in general it was a sloppy mess. This month is not like that. The story is one of continuing trends: a trend to higher rents, higher medical care inflation; continued weakness in apparel and transportation and other core goods. The key point though is that there is no sign that inflation is about to fall. Whether bottom-up, aggregated from the detailed pricing data, or top-down, looking at money supply growth and possible velocity outcomes, the uptrend in prices looks steady.

While that could change, if interest rates continue to decline and depress money velocity even further, it can't be the null hypothesis at this point. What is amazing is that the market, in its pricing of inflation, has made that the null hypothesis. Breakeven inflation is low, low, low for more than a decade in the future according to the market. Considerably lower than today's core inflation. It is a bet that looks increasingly out-of-whack.

 


P.S. Don't forget to buy my book! What's Wrong with Money: The Biggest Bubble of All. Thanks!

You can follow me @inflation_guy!

Enduring Investments is a registered investment adviser that specializes in solving inflation-related problems. Fill out the contact form at http://www.EnduringInvestments.com/contact and we will send you our latest Quarterly Inflation Outlook. And if you make sure to put your physical mailing address in the "comment" section of the contact form, we will also send you a copy of Michael Ashton's book "Maestro, My Ass!"

 

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