Rampant U.S. inflation accelerated even further in May, with prices rising 8.6% year over year, marking the fastest increase since 1981, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The 8.6% consumer price index (CPI), a wide-ranging measure of goods and services prices, exceeded the Dow Jones estimate of 8.3%. Excluding food and energy prices, core CPI was up 6%, also above the 5.9% estimate.
On a sequential basis, headline CPI was up 1% while core rose 0.6% vs. the previous month, again running hotter than estimates of 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.
CNBC:
Stock futures dropped on Friday morning after a highly anticipated inflation report showed a faster-than-expected rise in prices.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 279 points, or 0.9%. Those for the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures sank 1.4%.
The hot inflation reading could lead traders to price in more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve later this year. The 2-year Treasury yield, which is seen as one of the most sensitive to Fed rate hikes, jumped above 2.8% on Friday.
The move in futures comes after stocks fell sharply during Thursday’s regular session, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each falling more than 2%. The Dow closed down more than 600 points, losing roughly 400 points during a rocky final hour of trading on Wall Street.
For the week so far, the Dow is lower by 1.9%, on track for its 10th down week in the past 11. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are both off by more than 2%, on track for their ninth losing week in 10.
In pre-market trading, shares of Apple (AAPL) declined 1.9% to drop below the $140 mark.
Technovanguard Take:
Gunshow panels by KC Green, 2013
It was nice of God to allow Jimmy Carter to live long enough to see this. – Technovanguard, May 19, 2022
‘Tis best to get a handle on inflation, if you know how, while you still can. – Technovanguard, May 11, 2021
This January, Interactive Brokers founder Thomas Peterffy said, “Inflation is 7% — 1% or 2% [in interest rate hikes] doesn’t mean anything. If they really wanted to stop inflation, they would have to raise rates to 4%, 5%, 6%.”
Inflation is repudiation. — Calvin Coolidge
When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident. — Ronald Reagan
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The post Rampant U.S. inflation accelerated in May to hit 8.6%, highest in 41 years appeared first on Technovanguard.
