Saturday 30 June 2007

Nothing to see here except for rising prices

Break out the champagne, inflation is dead. Core inflation rose 0.1% in May bringing the annual rate to 1.9% sneaking within the Fed's preferred range of 1 - 2%. So why didn't the markets rally? Maybe because investors are starting to realize that Core inflation is not telling the whole story.

Headline inflation rose 0.5% in May, the highest in 13 months. For some reason consumers haven't been deriving much confidence from the core numbers as consumer spending for May rose a paltry 0.1%, the third straight month of lukewarm spending. After-tax real incomes fell 0.1%, the second straight decline.

None of that matters though because core inflation is under control but I still don't hear the corks popping... not yet at least.

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