European Energy Crisis: 4 Reasons You MUST Know! European households are facing rising prices on many goods and services, but one particular standout is electricity and gas bills. According to Bank of America, European household gas bills are expected to rise to €1,850 in 2022 from €1,200 in 2020 (an ~55% increase). Natural gas prices have pulled back from the December peak. However, it remained high and it could get worse over the remainder of the winter months....
Read More »Inflation Karma
There is no oil in the CPI’s consumer basket, yet oil prices largely determine the rate by which overall consumer prices are increasing (or not). WTI sets the baseline which then becomes the price of motor fuel (gasoline) becoming the energy segment. As energy goes, so do headline CPI measurements. CPI Changes on Energy, 1995-2020 - Click to enlarge And that’s a huge problem…if you are Jay Powell. We’ve been making a big deal out of him making a huge deal out of...
Read More »Inflation Falls Again, Dot-com-like
US inflation in January 2019 was, according to the CPI, the lowest in years. At just 1.55% year-over-year, the index hadn’t suggested this level since September 2016 right at the outset of what would become Reflation #3. Having hyped expectations over that interim, US policymakers now have to face the repercussions of unwinding the hysteria. CPI Changes On Energy 2016-2019 - Click to enlarge Live by oil, now die by...
Read More »Inflation Is Oil, But Inflation Is Much More Than Consumer Prices
The average annual change in the WTI benchmark price was in April about 25%. That was still a sizable increase year-over-year, and just marginally less than March’s average of 33%. For calculated inflation rates, it represents the last of the base effects that have to this point made it appear as if economic improvement was possibly serious. CPI Changes On Energy, January 2016 - May 2017 - Click to enlarge Combined...
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