Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Pace Slows from Spike Last Month, but 6-Month CPI Accelerates Further, Worst Increase since September 2023 by Wolf Richter • Mar 12, 2025 • 54 Comments Natural gas and electricity pushed up energy costs in February, despite drop in gasoline prices. Used vehicle prices continued to surge.
Price of Natural Gas Futures Up 140% Year-over-Year: One More Reason for Inflation to Not Back off Easily by Wolf Richter • Mar 10, 2025 • 95 Comments Natural gas accounts for 42% of electricity generation. It’s feedstock for fertilizers. It’s widely used for heating. And 19% was exported in 2024.
Is This the Beginning of the Second Wave of Inflation? by Wolf Richter • Mar 5, 2025 • 121 Comments Companies can’t pass on those higher prices? What a bummer. But if they can without losing sales, it’s off to the races. See 2021/2022.
PCE Inflation Hits 4.0% Month-to-Month Annualized, Worst since March. 3-Month PCE Hits 2.9%, Worst since April. But Massive “Base Effect” in Services Cools YoY Increases by Wolf Richter • Feb 28, 2025 • 30 Comments December, prior months revised higher. Goods prices jump month-to-month by most since August 2023, turn positive for first time in a year.
Inflation Spikes to 4.0% in Japan, Much Worse than in the US. BOJ Babied its Rate to Just 0.5%, with More Baby Hikes in View by Wolf Richter • Feb 21, 2025 • 51 Comments The strategy: Let inflation rip to bring the horrible debt-to-GDP ratio down. Households & yield investors pay for it. Turns out, no free lunches after all.
PPI Inflation Accelerates to +3.5% yoy, Worst in 2 Years, Driven by Services amid Massive Up-Revision of Services Inflation by Wolf Richter • Feb 13, 2025 • 95 Comments Inflation is festering and accelerating in services (two-thirds of overall PPI), not in goods.
Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Worst Month-to-Month Acceleration of CPI since Aug 2023, on Spikes in Used Vehicles, Non-Housing Services, Food, Energy by Wolf Richter • Feb 12, 2025 • 100 Comments Inflation has been going in the wrong direction relentlessly month-to-month since June.
Treasury Market’s Inflation Expectations Become “Unanchored” by Wolf Richter • Feb 11, 2025 • 134 Comments Why the Fed vigorously backpedaled on further rate cuts and pivoted to wait-and-see: Long-term interest rates matter.
Used Car & Truck Prices Heading Higher on Tight Supply, Strong Demand, after U-Turn in mid-2024 from Historic Plunge. Used EV Prices Jump by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2025 • 88 Comments Already putting pressure on CPI inflation. Now comes tax-refund season.
Inflation Festers in Core Services, No Progress in 12 Months. PCE Price Index Accelerates for 3rd Month: Justifies Fed’s Pivot to Wait-and-See by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2025 • 261 Comments In a broader sense, there has been no progress at all on inflation in eight months.
