Inflation

Lots of Jobs, But Inflation Eroding Wage Gains

Aug 5, 2022 1 min read paid

July's payroll employment in July blew past forecasts, and there were upward revisions to the prior two months, boosting payrolls back up to pre-pandemic levels and a new record high. The bad news is that the wage-price spiral is still spiraling and reducing the purchasing power of consumers:

Ed Yardeni

The Best Cure For High Gasoline Prices

Aug 4, 2022 1 min read paid

The best cure for high gasoline prices is high gasoline prices. Gas prices have tumbled by 86 cents since hitting a record average high of $5.02 on June 14. Over the past month alone the national average is down by 65 cents. Americans cut back on driving when gas prices spiked above $5 a gallon. The 4-week moving average of gasoline usage dropped 9.5% to 8.6 million

Ed Yardeni

ECB Stuck Between A Rock & A Hard Place

Aug 3, 2022 1 min read paid

Soaring consumer prices and the prospect of energy rationing this coming winter have depressed consumer confidence in the Eurozone. No wonder that the volume of retail sale in the region fell 1.2% m/m and 3.7% y/y during June, suggesting that the risks of a recession in the Eurozone are increasing (chart below).

Ed Yardeni

Signs of Peak Inflation

Aug 1, 2022 1 min read

Today was a good day for those of us expecting to see peak inflation soon. July's US manufacturing purchasing managers (M-PMI) survey found that the M-PMI prices-paid index dropped to 60.0 from 87.1 in January. That's not surprising since the prices-paid and prices-received indexes that we compile from the five regional business surveys confirmed that inflationary pressures may be abating (charts below). That'

Ed Yardeni

Tomorrow's ECI Could Be Bad News

Jul 28, 2022 1 min read paid

Q2's Employment Cost Index (ECI) comes out tomorrow morning. In his press conference yesterday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell assessed inflationary pressures in the labor market. He said: "There's some evidence that wages, if you look at average hourly earnings [AHE], they appear to be moderating. Not so yet from the other wage measures. And we'll be getting the employment compensation index measurement I

Ed Yardeni

It's A Banana!

Jul 28, 2022 1 min read

Real GDP fell 0.9% (saar) during Q2, following a 1.6% decline during Q1. That's a "growth recession" in our opinion. It is widely believed that two consecutive quarters of declining real GDP is an outright recession. However, it won't be an official recession until the Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research says so. They might not do so since

Ed Yardeni

More Signs of A Mid-Cycle Slowdown

Jul 21, 2022 1 min read paid

The latest batch of economic indicators are in line with our mild recession outlook (a.k.a., a mid-cycle slowdown). We now have June's Leading and Coincident Economic Indexes (LEI & CEI) and July's NY and Philly regional business surveys, which are conducted by five of the 12 Federal Reserve district banks. The averages of the five tend to closely track the national manufacturing purchasing managers

Ed Yardeni

Is the Stock Market Discounting Peak Inflation?

Jul 20, 2022 1 min read

The S&P 500 rose yesterday by 2.76% to 3936.69. It is up 7.4% from its June 16 low of 3666.77. At that low, the index was 23.4% below its January 4 record high. Now it is down 17.9% from the record high. The S&P 500 index rose above its 50-day moving average yesterday. The Nasdaq also rose above its 50-day

Ed Yardeni

NY Fed Survey Shows Easing Pricing Pressures

Jul 19, 2022 1 min read

The NY Fed's July business survey showed significant declines in the prices-paid and prices-received diffusion indexes . Six-month-ahead expectations are down even more for both indexes (charts below). We will be closely examining the July business surveys conducted by four other Federal Reserve bank districts for confirmation that inflationary pressures are abating nationally. Philly will be released on Thursday. Dallas, Richmond, and KC will be out next week. We

Ed Yardeni

Homebuilders' Sentiment Plummets

Jul 18, 2022 1 min read

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, a survey designed to gauge market conditions, found builder sentiment dropped 12 points to 55 in July. That marked the largest one-month drop in the survey’s 37-year history with the exception of April 2020, when the reading plummeted 42 points to 30 during the pandemic lockdown. The S&P 500 Homebuilding Index, which is highly correlated with

Ed Yardeni

The Rent Is Too D@mn High!

Jul 13, 2022 1 min read

The Fed's ultra-easy monetary policies, in response to the pandemic, caused home prices to soar, and now rents are soaring. Over the 24 months through May, the median single-family home price is up a whopping 44.5%. This year's jump in mortgage rates only exacerbated the affordability problem facing first-time would-be homebuyers. As a result, many of them have no choice but to rent. Today'

Ed Yardeni

Inflation Remained Persistent In June