Balancing Inflation and Growth Part 7 of 13

At the same time, I am fully aware that the FOMC must be careful to not undermine that recuperative process. Here, of course, I refer to the potential harm to the consumer and the business and future trading software financial sectors alike by unwittingly allowing the perception to take hold that, as the New York Times editorialized in its lead front page article last Thursday, the Federal Reserve, signaled its readiness to bolster the economy with cheaper money even though inflation is picking up speed.

Talk of cheap money makes my skin crawl. The words imply a debased currency and inflation and the harsh medicine that inevitably must be administered to purge it. So you should not be surprised that I consider the perception that the Fed is pursuing a cheap-money strategy and commodity trading education, should it take root, to be a paramount risk to the long-term welfare of the U.S. economy.

I believe the Times overstates its case. Chairman Bernanke made clear in his congressional testimony last week that we are monitoring inflationary pressures and expectations closely. And yet, I understand the source of the Times sentiment. In a globalized capital market where money is free to move anywhere it pleases, there is scant tolerance for even the slightest whiff of inflation. Since the January FOMC meeting, longer-term rates, including those on fixed mortgages, have risen rather than followed the federal funds rate downward.

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Balancing Inflation and Growth Part 9 of 13

Recent readings on inflation have not been encouraging. The rate of increase in the core personal consumption expenditures price index, or core PCE that is, what people buy, except food and energy was 2.2 percent over the 12 months ending in January. Yet, its headline counterpart commodity index trading, which includes food and energy, increased an alarming 3.7 percent over the same time frame. Both core and headline PCE figures have been following an accelerating trajectory over the past several months. If you annualized the change in the PCE over the most recent three-month period, for example, you’ll notice that the core rose 3 percent, while headline rose 5.4 percent.

Clearly, food and energy prices matter, as these differences make clear. The price index for food rose 4.7 percent over the past 12 months, a rate not seen since 1990. Through January, the PCE energy component was up roughly 23 percent over 12 months.

While some of the movement in core consumer price inflation represents pass-through of high energy prices to transportation services, for example we have also seen commodity derivative trading pickups in other components, such as recreation, education and personal care services, and upticks in components, such as apparel, that have historically exerted downward pressure on the price of the consumers basket of goods.

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