Bloomberg/Reade Pickert/4-28-2023
“Two key gauges showed persistent US inflation pressures in recent months, buttressing the case for another Federal Reserve interest-rate hike next week. The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, the Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, rose 0.3% in March from the prior month and 4.6% from a year earlier, a Commerce Department report showed Friday.”
note: The consensus opinion is that the Fed will raise rates this week because of inflationary concerns and that it will pause in June acknowledging a possible economic slowdown. It is difficult to understand the thought processes involved. Will conditions have changed to such a degree over a month’s period of time to justify a Fed retreat? Can the Fed fight inflation one month and recession/systemic risks the next?
