from TomWoodsTV
Three Real Assets Primed for Growth in the Coming Inflation Bonanza
by James Hickman
Schiff Sovereign
Today’s inflation report showing ‘only’ 3% inflation, the Federal Reserve is all but guaranteed to start slashing interest rates.
The Fed Chairman essentially promised as much to Congress earlier this week, and has warned that if they don’t start cutting interest rates soon, “we could undermine the [economic] recovery.”
These guys still don’t get it. At this point it’s not even about 3% inflation (which is still too high) or 2% inflation. It’s about prices going back down to pre-pandemic levels… or just lower in general.
But that’s just never going to happen. The Fed doesn’t care about price reductions; they’re happy with a slower rate of price increases… which is totally out of touch with what people want and need.
Consumers Finally Get Some Relief From Inflation as Prices Decline for First Month Since 2020
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Consumers got the first break from inflation since the height of the pandemic in 2020.
In a surprising turn of events, the cost of consumer goods and services dropped in June, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
This significant decline signals a recent slowdown in inflation, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve might slash high U.S. interest rates in the coming months.
The consumer price index (CPI) dipped by 0.1 percent in June following a flat performance in May. This marks the first decrease since May 2020, when the pandemic’s grip forced the economy into an unprecedented shutdown.
Here’s the Inflation Breakdown for June 2024 – In One Chart
The consumer price index rose 3% in June 2024 from a year earlier, a decline from 3.3% in May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
by Greg Iacurci
CNBC.com
Inflation fell further in June as lower gasoline prices combined with other easing price pressures to bring relief for consumers’ wallets.
The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 3% in June from a year ago, down from 3.3% in May, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The CPI gauges how fast prices are changing across the U.S. economy. It measures everything from fruits and vegetables to haircuts, concert tickets and household appliances.
Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Historic Plunge in Durable Goods Prices, Plunge in Gasoline, and Outliers in Services
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Core Services CPI produced 2nd outlier. In the past, after two outliers in this very volatile data, the next move was a U-turn.
The Consumer Price Index for June, on a month-to-month basis, was pushed down by plunging gasoline prices, the continued historic plunge in prices of durable goods, led by used vehicles, nearly-flat food-at-home prices, and “core services” prices that rose at the smallest pace since the summer of 2021 in what looks like an outlier move of which we have seen already many in both directions.
Treasuries Rally as Cool Inflation Boosts Bets On Three Fed Cuts
by Liz Capo McCormick and Ye Xie
Yahoo! Finance
Most rates slid to their lowest since March, with those on two-year debt — more sensitive than longer maturities to changes in the Fed’s policy outlook — sinking as much as 13 basis points to 4.486%. Economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. responded by pulling forward their forecast for the start of Fed easing to September from November, and traders fully priced in a September cut for the first time in months.
The odds of a September rate cut jumped from around 70% before the data. For all of 2024, the contracts imply 60 basis points easing — at least two quarter-point moves — from about 49 basis points earlier.
“The data makes a September cut a slam dunk now,” said Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities LLC. “You are going to get three cuts this year — September, November and December — and the market is starting to price that.”
Wheel of (Shrinking) Fortune: How Game-Show Prizes Have Lagged Behind Inflation
by Kelly Lawler
USA Today
These days it’s more like who wants to be a multimillionaire, am I right?
Times have changed ever since game shows and reality competition series like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “Survivor” started doling out $1 million prizes to winners more than two decades ago. But the series still offer the same seven-figure prize, even though a million bucks just ain’t what it used to be.
Inflation and massive cost-of-living increases in the United States have been dramatic, and these series simply haven’t kept up. So that million-dollar question that Regis Philbin asked contestants back in 1999 paid a lot more than the one Jimmy Kimmel asks celebrities in the latest prime-time incarnation of “Millionaire” this summer (Wednesdays, 8 EDT/PDT).
Voters Trust GOP More to Deal With America’s ‘Very Serious’ Inflation Problem
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Republicans are far more trusted than Democrats to handle America’s inflation problem, polling from Rasmussen Reports indicates.
Fifty-three percent of likely voters trust Republicans more to handle inflation, according to a survey of 1,17 U.S. likely voters conducted on June 30-July 2, 2024 showed.
Just 37 percent of likely voters say Democrats are better on the issue, giving Republicans a 16-point advantage on inflation.
This is likely to influence the upcoming U.S. elections. Eighty-four percent believe the issue of inflation will be important in this year’s presidential election. Sixty-one percent say it is likely to be very important.
Gen Z Consumers in the U.S. Rely On Parents as Inflation Squeezes Budgets, Study Shows
by Makailah Gause
Yahoo! Finance
Half of the 1,091 people aged 18 to 27 surveyed by the bank were not on track to buy a home in the next five years. Respondents were polled in April and May, with the survey weighted to meet national population benchmarks, including gender and race.
The survey showed 46% of young people were unprepared to save for retirement and 40% were not ready to start investing in the next five years.
California’s Minimum Wage Law Has Led Some Employers to Cut Hours and Hike Prices
“I’ve been in the business for 25 years…I never had to increase the amount of pricing that I did this past time in April,” one business owner told the A.P.
by Emma Camp
Reason.com
Last September, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill mandating a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. The new wage is among the highest in the county, surpassing even Washington, D.C.’s $17.50 minimum wage. While supporters touted the wage increase as a way to help struggling Californians, detractors warned that restaurant owners would respond by laying off workers, cutting their hours, or speeding up the already starting shift to automation.
The law went into effect in April, meaning that it’s likely too early to tell what the ultimate effects of the law will be. However, a recent report from the Associated Press detailed concerns from several California fast food restaurant owners who say they’ve been forced to reduce hours and hike food prices.
Markets Waiting On CPI
by Ira Epstein
GoldSeek
When you look at the gold market, again the market has been sitting in very much sideways action. This is a weekly chart of just closes and you can see how the market’s done that when we look at a daily borrow chart, pointed out that you would come up before to this resistance point.
And if you come back with me here, you can see how the market just came down and held itself, bouncing back and forth. The bias of the market is going to be up and the trend is up. Why? Well, the trend is on the swing line, higher lows, and higher highs. I already know it’s holding the 18-day average of closes. I mentioned that the battleground’s probably around the $2347 level and it is on the upside, it’ll be the upper Bollinger Band around the $2389 level in terms of momentum, you have worked off in overbought condition. So the market’s getting itself ready for CPI, and PPI events.