A brutal third quarter in financial markets came to a close on Friday and one thing is overwhelmingly clear: Inflation is the single most important factor driving asset valuations right now and yet fe...
Tag: price indices
Why TIPS might be a smart place to park some money right now
Inflation is running at 8% or higher, depending on how you count it (and who’s counting). The Federal Reserve is clearly panicking. And the markets are clearly panicking too. So at this point, Uncle S...
How to get a guaranteed return of 1.3% per year above inflation
TIPS in recent months have become an increasingly attractive option for the fixed-income portion of your retirement portfolio. I’m referring, of course, to the Treasury’s Inflation-Protected Securitie...
5 Dividend Stocks to Beat Inflation and Rising Interest Rates
Dividend stocks are facing stiffer competition, thanks to a big spike in bond yields. A risk-free 10-Year Treasury note was recently yielding 3.7%, up from 1.63% at the start of 2021. That’s well abov...
‘Disinflationary wave is building’ even as investors anticipate aggressive Fed rate increase, says this economist
Signs of disinflation have emerged even as investors fear Federal Reserve Chair Powell and his colleagues will keep battling inflation through aggressive rate hikes that have hurt both stocks and bond...
Why investors fear a full-percentage-point Fed rate hike would ‘unnerve’ Wall Street
The Fed has delivered two 75 basis point interest-rate hikes so far this year. A previous version of this story said it had delivered three. With both U.S. stocks and bonds under pressure on Tuesday, ...
Zillow sees peak rent growth as over, but that isn’t what the Fed’s tracking
A look at Zillow Group’s closely followed rent index shows that last year’s roughly 17% yearly surge in rental prices was probably the peak, with the rate of increases dramatically receding in the pas...
Fed to put a ‘firm foot on the brake pedal’ this week
The Federal Reserve is widely expected this week to raise its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points in an effort to slow the economy as a way to cool inflation. “What the Fed was doing ear...
Buy I Bonds Now at 9.6%. A New Rate Comes in November.
Text size The rate on I bonds hit a record 9.6% for bonds purchased starting in May and continuing through the end of October. Dreamstime One of the best current deals in the bond market—Treasury Seri...
Bulls Get Scorched by FedEx. Don’t Expect the Fed to Help.
Text size FedEx’s disappointing earnings and unexpectedly weak guidance were key factors in this past week’s stock market swoon. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg The stock market faces a doubly poisonous c...
3 Ways Retirees Can Inflation-Proof Their Portfolios
Rather than vanishing with the final days of summer, inflation has proven stickier than anticipated. For retirees, that means not just higher daily prices, but also the chance that their savings won’t...
Can the Fed tame inflation without crushing the stock market? What investors need to know.
The Federal Reserve isn’t trying to slam the stock market as it rapidly raises interest rates in its bid to slow inflation still running red hot — but investors need to be prepared for more pain and v...
Even after the market meltdown, investors are still making two implausible assumptions about the next six months, this economist says
Not for the first time, inflation numbers caught the market by surprise. The bad news was the S&P 500 SPX, +0.43% saw the largest one-day decline in two years, slumping 4.2%. The good news if you’...
Inflation Is Sticker Than It Looks. Consider the Cleveland Fed’s Data
Text size The food index increased by 11.4% year over year in August, according to the government’s latest CPI release. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Inflation is sticky — and even stickier than it ...
Inflation Hit the Stock Market. These Stocks Could Benefit From Rising Prices.
Text size *** ONE-TIME USE *** John Deere tractors Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Inflation doesn’t want to go away—and the stock market is reeling. Some stocks, though, could benefit if inflation remai...
These five stocks in the S&P 500 lost almost half a trillion dollars in value in one day amid widespread wipeout
A decline in gasoline prices couldn’t mask the problem that spooked investors on Sept. 13: Core consumer prices resumed their rapid increase during August. Fear of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing tighte...
U.S. inflation roars back in August, CPI shows, despite falling gas prices
The numbers: Falling gas price delivered a second low U.S. inflation reading in a row as the consumer price index rose by just 0.1% in August. But the report also showed inflation has spread more broa...
Any doubt Fed will raise rates by 75 basis points next week is gone after hot U.S. inflation data
Any doubt that the Federal Reserve will raise its its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage point next week is gone, economists said, following the hot U.S. consumer price inflation data for Augu...
These three potential ‘naked swimmers’ threaten stocks and financial markets
Following a hat trick for all three major indexes last week, both optimism and trepidation are in the air as a new trading stretch begins. But some, like the Kobeissi Letter’s editor in chief and foun...
Inflation May Have Slowed in August. That May Not Be Good News.
Text size Markets have been waiting for a clearer indication that inflation is coming down from its highest point in four decades. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Inflation is expected to have slowed...
Inflation Could Be Harder to Tame Than the Fed Anticipates
Text size Another 75-basis-point hike in the federal-funds target is looking very, very likely. Ting Shen/Bloomberg Market participants returned from their summer holidays apparently undaunted by the ...
With inflation, many retirees will pay more federal income taxes
The federal income tax is generally indexed for inflation. Most particularly, the income brackets to which the marginal tax rates apply are increased in line with the “Chained CPI-U.” While the chaine...
Inflation expectations are ‘collapsing’ — here’s why that could spur a rebound in stocks
A closely watched U.S. bond-market gauge of near-term inflation expectations has fallen below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for the first time in two years in a sign that stocks could find some near...
5 tips for retiring in a volatile market
Retiring is usually accompanied by celebrations and relaxation, but recent market volatility is adding a measure of doubt for those nearing or at the start of their retirement. That volatility, couple...
Opinion: Market instability replaces inflation as the biggest risk, raising the chances of a pivot by the Federal Reserve
Market instability is the biggest risk to central banks globally, replacing inflation, owing to massive amounts of leverage. So far, the U.S. Federal Reserve is fortunate because there’s low volatilit...