Inflation/Deflation

Inflation does not reliably depend on employment so what other model could we depend on? Check out the model below that I have developed which strongly suggests core inflation has stabilized at around 2.2%.

The Fed is considering raising its inflation target above 2% annually. This shift pushes the FOMC in a dovish direction and will reduce the market odds of interest rate hikes this year. It is positive news for the gold market.

Getting the inflation call right is one of the most important decisions an investor can make today. This article explains how the U.S. inflation outlook is becoming clearer with the use of a number of charts.

There was a time when U.S. central bankers worried that inflation was too high, and they tried to bring it down. Now the opposite is true: the Federal Reserve is concerned that inflation has remained stubbornly low, and it’s trying to boost prices. The reason: persistently low inflation raises the risk that prices will actually start to decline. That’s bad news because it makes people less willing to borrow and spend—anticipating lower prices, consumers will put off spending—and could also lead to a fall in wages.

We are not yet hoarding toilet paper and baked beans, but the prospect that we will be driven to do so has already been signalled to us. This article draws on the evidence of extreme overvaluations in equities and bonds worldwide, and concludes the explanation lies increasingly in a greater perception of risk against holding cash, or bank deposits.

When growth becomes exponential the likelihood is that it won’t last and that there will a substantial move in the opposite direction. This article looks at the unsustainable trends in most asset classes, population numbers, inflation and credit growth and discusses the dire consequences that are most likely to unfold in the years to come as a result.

I have long been a critic of government inflation statistics. Not so much with regard to the methodology they use, but because the measure of “average” inflation across the broad economy doesn’t really describe the inflation that the majority of Americans experience. I’ve written about that at length in several letters and now my good friend Ron Arnott, along with his associate Lillian Wu, presents us with a research paper that lays out what inflation actually looks like for most Americans – and the picture is not pretty.

Gluskin Sheff Chief Economist David Rosenberg is bucking the bearish trend on Wall Street and running with the bulls instead, touting positive jobs and wages data as a sign that inflation—the current gold standard for economic recovery—may be right around the corner...

The present economic expansion is being brought about by massive stimulus policies and, as such, does not constitute genuine economic growth. Such bogus economic growth by way of monetary and fiscal stimulus can go on only until either the collapse of hyperinflation brings an end to the artificial boom or the amount of accumulated debt makes state bankruptcy inevitable.

Staying ahead of inflation is hard enough but even trying to tread water, to stay even with inflation, becomes extremely difficult when you have the lead weight of inflation taxes around your neck, pulling you down.