Tag Archives: Inflation

U.S. households — particularly low-income ones — are still sitting on a healthy pandemic nest egg, cushioning them for now against steep price increases on food and energy. That means that even with consumer prices forecast to have risen 8.4% in March, shoppers shouldn’t be running out of cash. That’s the finding of a new Consumer Checkpoint report from the Bank of America Institute, which showed debit and credit card spending rose 11% last month, or 6.7% on a per-household basis. The… Source link

Billionaire investor and financial markets historian Ray Dalio is sending a dire warning on the outlook for inflation. “Oh, I’m like an eight, an eight to 10 or something like that,” the Bridgewater Associates Founder and Co-chief investment officer said in an interview for Yahoo Finance Presents when asked how concerned he was about inflation on a scale of 1 to 10. Dalio is dead right to have that high level of angst on all things inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.9% in… Source link

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said that the central bank can raise interest rates more aggressively to dampen the high rate of inflation felt by Americans. Brainard, who is awaiting a confirmation vote to serve in the central bank’s number two role, added that policymakers are attuned to the disparate impacts of inflation on particularly lower-income households. “Currently, inflation is much too high and is subject to upside risks,” Brainard said at a conference Tuesday. “The… Source link

Bruising levels of inflation from rent to gas to food continues to hit many American households hard, so hard it may be pushing a new group of the population into food stamps, hints new data. Google search volumes for “food stamps” are still running 100% higher than pre-pandemic levels (see chart below), according to DataTrek. Search volumes have trended higher since the start of 2022 as inflation has accelerated, notably at the gas pump. Volumes peaked in April 2020 as millions of people lost… Source link

With inflation setting a new 40-year high for the month of February, the Federal Reserve looks to pump the brakes on surging prices with the first rate increases since 2018. In light of these inflationary pressures, Lands’ End (LE) CEO Jerome Griffith believes that the outlook for American consumers is optimistic. “I think people are generally concerned about inflation out there. But at the same time, you know, people are still out spending,” he told Yahoo Finance Live. “The resiliency… Source link

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales increased moderately in February as more expensive gasoline and food forced households to cut back spending on other goods like furniture, electronics and appliances, which could restrain economic growth this quarter. The report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday, however, showed the rebound in sales in January was much stronger than initially estimated. Record gasoline and high food prices are hitting lower-income households… Source link

This article first appeared in the Morning Brief. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe Wednesday, March 16, 2022 Inflation is raging at a pace not seen in 40 years, making it a near certainty that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at the conclusion of its policy-setting meeting this afternoon. How do we know? Because Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said so. “I’m inclined to propose and support a 25 basis point rate hike,”… Source link

This article first appeared in the Morning Brief. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe Tuesday, March 15, 2022 Rapid rent growth will persist The rent is too damn high. Once only referring to a single-issue political party led by former New York City mayoral candidate Jimmy McMillan in the 2000s, the phrase now resonates across the U.S. Rent growth, not just soaring energy prices, is doing its part to push inflation to a 40-year high… Source link

A growing number of retirees are heading back to work. In February, 3% of retired workers made the decision to return to work, marking the highest percentage to date during the pandemic and a continuation of a trend that started in the spring of last year, Nick Bunker, the director of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab, told Yahoo Money. Strong demand for workers and COVID vaccinations initially helped to fuel the return, Bunker said. “Even more retirees could come off the… Source link

January again saw inflation levels not seen in decades, with surging CPI expected once more for February. Among the areas getting hit the hardest by inflation is childcare. According to survey data released by UrbanSitter, 2021 saw babysitting rates jump nationwide. “There was an 11% increase in babysitting rates over the past year, outpacing inflation at 7%,” UrbanSitter’s report reads. “Given that rates rose just 3.9% from 2019 to 2020, this is a big increase. If you’re looking for a… Source link