Tidbits
Yesterday morning, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported inflation at the wholesale level in March was up 0.2%; the market was expecting the Producer Price Index (PPI) to be up 0.3%. However, there is a credibility problem.
What would you say gasoline prices did in March? Yep, the American Automobile Association (Triple A) reported the price of gasoline in March increased 6.3%. However, the gasoline component of the government’s PPI reported the "seasonally adjusted price" of gasoline was down 3.6%. What this teaches us it is very easy to control inflation, just lie about it. Of course, such PPI numbers justify lower interest rates, which gets votes.
We found a chart comparing food and wages inflation past years, some details are in author’s blog:
Argentina’s Central Bank cut its interest rate yesterday by 10 percent points! It is now “just” 70%. Elections do have consequences.