Zero Hedge: (Yesterday was) dominated by the market pricing in US fiscal stimulus for the nth time, unless we buy the rumor and sell the fact: and it’s rumors and facts I want to address.
US CPI yesterday saw headline inflation in line with consensus at 0.4% m/m and rising from 1.3% to 1.7% y/y, but core inflation a tick lower at 0.1% m/m and so dipping to 1.3% y/y. On the back of that, and a moderate US 10-year auction, US equities rose (the S&P up 0.6%); US bond yields dipped, (10s down 6bp from their intraday peak to close at 1.52%); and USD wobbled.
The CPI release included a footnote stating:
“…data collection in February was affected by the temporary closing or limited operations of certain types of establishments. These factors resulted in an increase in the number of prices considered temporarily unavailable and imputed. While the CPI program attempted to collect as much data as possible, many indexes are based on smaller amounts of collected prices than usual, and a small number of indexes that are normally published were not published this month.”
Or, to put it differently, ‘We did our best, but made some of it up’.
This rightly worried some people: is inflation being ‘hidden’? Read More …
Opinion: It isn’t nice to fool people.
Does anyone believe we are not paying more for food and energy? Oh wait, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not count food and energy in the consumer price index (CPI) i.e. inflation.
Does anyone believe that the price of precious metals, the primary indicator of inflation is not being manipulated?
Gold Market Manipulation And The Federal Reserve
Some gold bulls have bought in heavily to the argument that gold price suppression has been an ongoing activity for years, even decades. Supposedly, trading in the gold market is manipulated in ways that depress the market price for gold. read more
Of course we can’t prove it, but with reports of Joe Biden and the Dems planning an additional $3-4 trillion in spending, expect the US dollar to continue to drop making EVERYTHING more expensive.
Financial pundits are giddy with happiness over the rise in equity prices all the while ignoring that the United States, the engine of the world economy, is also the biggest debtor nation in the world.
Here’s an idea, let’s celebrate QE Day. What could do wrong?
See the 1% and Revelation: Do Not Harm the Oil and Wine Here
