Your Place in Cyber Space for Inflation Data
Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in May 2017 was 1.87%. Inflation has steadily moved lower month by month from its peak of 2.74% in February. First falling to 2.38% in March, then down to 2.20% in April, and finally 1.87% in May. Although Inflation has fallen it is still slightly above its 12 month moving average (Red Line) indicating that the short-term trend is still up, although the gap is closing, a cross below the moving average would indicate that the short term trend has … [Read More...]
When we think of inflation we usually think of how it affects us as consumers. But the effects of inflation are wide ranging, including not only individuals but also businesses and even countries. Consumers and businesses alike have to deal with the impact of inflation, both good and bad. Here are some ways in which inflation affects businesses:
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the monthly and annual Inflation numbers for April 2017.
Inflation-protected annuities are designed to help mitigate both inflation and longevity risks to a retiree’s income, these annuities, which are sold by insurance firms, provide guaranteed fixed-income payments over a set period of time or for life. Periodic increases in the inflation-protected annuities happen as its price rises along with inflation.
Back in February (based on January data) our Moore Inflation Predictor (MIP) forecast that March’s inflation rate would be between 2.41% and 2.63% and today the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that March’s annual inflation rate was 2.38%. So we were pretty close but how we got here is another matter entirely. In this case, two wrongs actually did make a right. As you can see from the chart below (we added a reality line to show what actually happened) first the inflation rate shot way above our projection and then it shot slightly below like some sort of drunk driver over-compensating while trying desperately to stay on the road.
On Wednesday March 15th the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly Inflation report for the 12 months ending February 28th . The Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) came in at 243.603.
Back in 1918 gasoline was $0.25 a gallon and by 1932 prices had fallen to 18 cents a gallon! But as we all know over the last 100 years the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen drastically so in order to get the true picture we can’t just say that the lowest price of gas was 18 cents per gallon, we need to adjust the price for inflation.
Electricity Price Inflation Residential electricity prices in the U.S. have risen from an average of 7.83 cents per kilowatthour in 1990 to an average of 11.44 cents per kwh in 2010. This is a 46% increase in 20 years and sounds like a lot but as you can see from the chart below for many years[Read More…]
Source: inflationdata.com | NYSE Index Inflation Commentary To Print this Chart: When Printer dialog box appears be sure to switch to Landscape mode Note: Please feel free to link to this page but not to the image itself as the image may be renamed (or deleted) when it is updated but the page URL will[Read More…]
Your Ability to Choose Should Increase Competition In years past consumers didn’t have a lot of choice when it came to their natural gas supplier, they were tied to the local gas utility, so if they wanted to charge a 541% markup you were pretty much stuck. But just prior to the new millennium states began[Read More…]
Inflation Adjusted Real Estate Prices- Lets take a look at the idea that housing prices always go up. Of course, each neighborhood is different, so some neighborhoods might be going down while a few miles away housing prices are skyrocketing but by looking at the nationwide average we can get a better picture of the overall trend. The St. Louis Federal Reserve publishes the following chart that shows the S&P/Case Shiller National Home Price Index and by adjusting those prices for inflation we can get a better picture of how real estate prices really act. Is a home a good investment or not?
Inflation Indexed Bonds Performance- U.S. Treasury Inflation indexed bonds are supposed to protect you from the ravages of inflation while providing a safe and decent rate of return on your money. Obviously, since safety is generally inversely proportional to risk, if inflation indexed bonds are very safe you would expect the rate of return to be[Read More…]
