INFLATION POPS; CENTRAL BANK LEMMINGS; HURRICANE NEARS; RECESSION ODDS UP; XI TO THE RESCUE

Just when we thought May’s year-over-year 8.6 percent jump in inflation was as bad as it could get, the June Consumer Price Index clocked in at an eye-watering 9.1 percent. Gasoline (+59.9 percent), air fares (+34.1), household energy (+21.9), furniture (+13.1) and groceries (+12.2) led the parade. And while the ink was still wet on that report, the index of wholesale prices printed out at an 11.3 percent increase over last year. Those wholesale prices will feed into the supermarket postings in short order.

Inflation is metastasizing, spreading throughout the economy, leaping from goods to services such as dental care and rents, and back again. The result is something akin to panic by investors. Their attitude “reflects a deep economic pessimism [that] overhangs the country” according to one survey.