Wednesday , April 24 2024
Home / Mike Norman Economics / Lagging Economic Indicator Still Lagging — Brian Romanchuk

Lagging Economic Indicator Still Lagging — Brian Romanchuk

Summary:
My feeling is that although it is too early to declare victory over high inflation rates, I think we are closing in on closer to “normal” dynamics — by the standards of the post-1990 era. I believe that there are still areas of stronger pricing power, but some of the excesses have been unwound, so that we end up with more mediocre inflation prints. At least we would if the housing component of CPI — constructed to be a very slow-moving series — settles down. The market rent series that I have seen (but I do not have access to) suggest that it will settle down, but that will be a mid-2023 story.The chart above shows the 6-month annualised rate-of-change of the “commodities” (goods) component of the U.S. CPI. It excludes housing, and is currently near typical levels seen in past cycles.

Topics:
Mike Norman considers the following as important:

This could be interesting, too:

New Economics Foundation writes New Economics Podcast: Why is the benefits system failing disabled people

Michael Hudson writes Jill Stein: Splitting the Pro-Imperial Vote

Editor writes In search of radical alternatives

Stavros Mavroudeas writes «Οι καταστροφικές επιπτώσεις της ΕΕ στην Ελλάδα και τους εργαζόμενους» – Στ.Μαυρουδέας ΠΡΙΝ 20-21/4/2024

My feeling is that although it is too early to declare victory over high inflation rates, I think we are closing in on closer to “normal” dynamics — by the standards of the post-1990 era. I believe that there are still areas of stronger pricing power, but some of the excesses have been unwound, so that we end up with more mediocre inflation prints. At least we would if the housing component of CPI — constructed to be a very slow-moving series — settles down. The market rent series that I have seen (but I do not have access to) suggest that it will settle down, but that will be a mid-2023 story.

The chart above shows the 6-month annualised rate-of-change of the “commodities” (goods) component of the U.S. CPI. It excludes housing, and is currently near typical levels seen in past cycles. Nothing that looks like a persistent inflation problem, but we cannot completely rule out more supply chain disruptions.

My guess is that we will back to more typical dynamics, where inflation follows aggregate demand with a lag, and business cycle sentiment indicators will be the ones to watch.…

Bond Economics
Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *