by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

Core services inflation dished up bad head fakes last time we had this mess in 1966-1982. Mention of a rate hike crops up in a Fed speech.

Over the past year or so, the Fed has been intensely discussing inflation in “core services,” which is where inflation had shifted to in 2022, from goods inflation which had spiked into mid-2022 but then cooled dramatically. So “core services” is where it’s at. Core services is where consumers spend the majority of their money. Core services are all services except energy services. Core services inflation has been behaving badly for months, and in January, it spiked out the wazoo.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

by Ian Hanchett
Breitbart.com

During an interview with ABC News on Thursday, White House Senior Adviser Gene Sperling stated that “people have been through a tough few years” but the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) price index reading is “very close to normal” and “prices are moving in the right direction” and “moderating.” But you can’t expect them to not go up.

Sperling said, “It’s been a tough few years since the pandemic,” but “inflation is coming down. In fact, it was really 2.4% in this measure, 2.8% if you don’t include food and gas. And that’s not good enough, but it is very close to normal. And there are a lot of different areas where you have seen prices come down.”

He added, “I think people have been through a tough few years and they went through 2022 when you had the variants and the global economy was getting back and you had supply chain issues and they saw prices come up.

Continue Reading at Breitbart.com…

by William J. Luther
The American Institute for Economic Research

Inflation picked up in January, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI), which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, grew at a continuously compounding annual rate of 4.1 percent in the first month of the year. The PCEPI has grown at an annualized rate of 1.8 percent over the last three months and 2.5 percent over the last six months. Prices today are 8.4 percentage points higher than they would have been had they grown at an annualized rate of 2.0 percent since January 2020.

[…] Figure 1. Headline and Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index with 2-percent Trend, January 2020 – January 2024

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also increased. Core PCEPI grew at a continuously compounding annual rate of 5.0 percent in January. It has grown at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent over the last three months and 2.5 percent over the last six months.

Continue Reading at AIER.org…

from ReasonTV

from World Star Hip-Hop

Click the image…

What a tragedy!

View at WorldStar.com…

from Zero Hedge

GOOD NEWS… One of The Fed’s favorite inflation indicators – Core PCE Deflator – dropped to +2.8% YoY in January (as expected) – the lowest since March 2021.

Headline PCE Deflator rose 0.3% MoM as expected, down at +2.4% YoY in January …

However, shorter-term signals are less encouraging:

• Core PCE 3M annualized rate 2.8% from 2.0%
• Core PCE 6M annualized rate 2.6% from 2.2%

On a core basis, services costs jumped even more and Durable Goods costs flipped from deflation…

Continue Reading at ZeroHedge.com…

from TomWoodsTV

by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in January accelerated, and price inflation hasn’t proven nearly as transitory as the regime’s economists have long predicted.

According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.1 percent year over year during January, after seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-fifth month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target.

Month-over-month inflation accelerated, with the CPI rising 0.3 percent from December to January. Month-to-month growth had been 0.2 percent from November to December.

Continue Reading at Mises.org…

by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org

No, seriously, that’s exactly what she’s now promoting (although I doubt she realizes it):

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday offered her strongest public support yet for the idea of liquidating roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets and using them for Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction.

“It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine’s continued resistance and long-term reconstruction,” Yellen said in remarks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting this week.

In other words, steal the funds.

Yellen goes on to say she believes there is a strong international law case for stealing the funds. Well perhaps there is and perhaps not; I will not pass judgment on whether one can find justification in international law for such an action.

Continue Reading at Market-Ticker.org…

from Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network

Kerry Lutz and Jim Welsh discussed Trump’s legal issues, market trends, and the Fed’s stance on rate cuts. They also analyzed the potential economic impact of inflation, gold, and geopolitical events on the stock market. In addition, they delved into the structural changes in work patterns and their impact on office space demand, expressing concerns about the potential problems in the commercial real estate market and the stress on banks. The conversation provided a multifaceted view of the market and economic outlook, highlighting the need for caution and preparedness in the face of uncertainty.

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from Gregory Mannarino

from SchiffGold

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

Four decades of history say it’s not over until the 2-year yield overshoots the EFFR. It has undershot for a year, and inflation is taking off again.

Inflation surprised in 2023 with its sharp decline, driven by the collapse in energy prices and the drop in durable goods prices. Both of them have come off huge price spikes since mid-2022, pulling down overall CPI inflation from 9.0% in June 2022 to 3.1% in January 2024. But services inflation has remained high and accelerated in late 2023, which was not surprising, and then on top of this increase, it leaped in January by an annualized rate of 8.2%.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

by Gary Christenson
GoldSeek

A little discussion about this thing we call “inflation” after the January CPI report.

A vast majority of people see inflation as rising prices, wages and ‘pushed’ costs within the economy. In other words…

We are all, to varying degrees, taking bites out of the Fed’s excrement.

The headlines blare on about CPI, but the inflation problem was created by rapid increases in the money supply. That was the mechanics of inflation’s creation, with too many newly printed currency units seeking out a finite number of assets. That is inflation. Not today’s ‘cost effects’ headlines. This of course is the legacy of our dear monetary leaders, over-schooled in Keynesian theories and eggheads all.

Continue Reading at GoldSeek.com…

by James Rickards
Daily Reckoning

The January inflation numbers came out this morning, and they weren’t good for Wall Street.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.1% in January. That’s a decrease from December’s 3.4%, but it exceeded consensus estimates of 2.9%.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 3.9% on an annualized basis, which is unchanged from December. But the consensus estimate was 3.7%. Core inflation also rose at its highest rate since April 2023.

Here I want to make an important point about core inflation. From the point of view of everyday Americans, core inflation is nonsense.

Continue Reading at DailyReckoning.com…

from Peter Schiff

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

But that’s how inflation is, once out of the bottle: It serves up nasty surprises.

We’ll start with the “core services” CPI (services minus energy services) because this is so crucial, and because Powell keeps talking about it. We have been concerned here for months about the refusal of core services inflation to ease off, and we’ve found the acceleration in the fall last year “very disconcerting.” But that’s how inflation is – it tends to serve up nasty surprises. And now it did.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

from WallStForMainSt

by Peter C. Earle
The American Institute for Economic Research

Attending the Super Bowl in person has long been a lavish expense, reserved for those willing to part with a significant sum for the ultimate fan experience. But when the Kansas City Chiefs meet the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 11 for the 58th such championship, it will be the most expensive yet.

Stubhub is reporting tickets ranging from $5,300 to $107,000, with the average price paid around $9,500. (Ticketmaster and other estimates vary slightly.) That is a 93 percent increase in ticket prices from last year’s Super Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, and 300 percent over the past ten years. Lodging prices are skyrocketing as well.

A week out from kickoff, rooms at five-star hotels like the Bellagio, Aria, and The Venetian started at $1,500 or more per night for Super Bowl weekend, according to Expedia.

Continue Reading at AIER.org…

Welcome,

Last week I went to an undisclosed coffee shop in the morning and ordered my usual latté. Three minutes later the barista handed me my latte’ and I went into shock. The cup was on crooked, and when I opened it, the contents were half-full and didn’t look very appetizing.

I just sat there as I looked at my $7 receipt and realized I’d just paid that $7 for this so-called privilege, which was more than double what I was paying just a few short years ago. What that meant to me was I was getting less and paying more. But I wasn’t done. After I got my mind on the task at hand I called over the manager over to express my outrage.

I said, “You are not selling coffee in this place, you’re selling inflation.” No wonder this chain just released record earnings, I thought to myself. “You’re just an Inflation Café!”

The manager who was in his early 30’s, just shrugged his shoulders, smiled and went about his day. Believe it or not, that’s when the concept for this newsletter hit me.

That was when the Inflation Café born. I am your personal barista giving you a guided and in-depth tour on inflation, explaining how it’s created, why it exists and providing you with ample evidence of its continued existence and how you might overcome it and make some money along the way.

Think about this. It’s not an accident that inflation happens. It’s a distinct policy that governments around the world have implemented. It is a hidden tax that gets you to work harder for a lesser reward.

As this newsletter and website progress, what we’ll do is explore the inner workings of the inflationary monster and why it will be around for decades to come.

Until you, the public is no longer willing to accept this hidden tax, which grows like a cancer, you’ll be forced to pay it. With this in mind, sit back, relax and learn.

Regards,
Kerry Lutz
Editor ‘n Chief Barista
Inflation Café