Who’s Most Impacted By Inflation? All Of Us.
Things are looking grim. Today’s inflation report came in hotter than expected much to the disappointment of the bond and equity markets. Equity markets are getting slammed, while Treasury yields are rising. Today’s report puts the Fed substantially behind the curve on inflation. A dramatic action might be necessary to provide even the smallest form of relief. Until today, you wouldn’t hear this from most commentators on CNBC – that one cannot take a 75 or 100 bp event totally off the table. This blog has advocated for rate hikes for quite some time and believed a 75 bp hike a few months ago would have been appropriate. Signaling from the Fed has been very poor, as well as, from the Treasury. Letting inflation run hot was a terrible mistake. Like most Americans, inflation has been evident in our daily purchases for months. Let’s hope the Fed makes the right decisions soon, to avoid recession. It is becoming an increasingly difficult environment to navigate. In my opinion, inflation, and not the equity or housing market, remains priority number one. So, there will certainly be more pain ahead.
Although consumer and business confidence remains weak, a combination of stock market volatility, the slowing housing market, and 120 oil may be doing some of the work for the Fed. Anecdotally, this week I happened to be out to dinner more than usual, and I noticed that restaurants are less busy. The gas attendant at the local gas station said fewer people are filling up. Bank management is less eager to lend. All these things suggest the economy may already be in recession. With unemployment at 3.60%, it is hard to envision a major recession taking place. Nonetheless, I am reading about many layoffs, especially in higher-paying jobs such as technology.
The Housing Market & Our National Reality Check
There is not much good news to talk about. Rising rates and a cooling economy will lead to lower house prices. Supply-constrained markets such as Southern California probably won’t see a big price dip unless the bond market and equity market do not steady, but home prices will come down as demand wanes. This is a positive note for those waiting to buy, but not so much for those who recently bought.
The one benefit of this reset is that wages, the cost of living, and people’s expectations of what a normal rate of return looks like, have gotten a major reality check. There is no such thing as a free lunch, unlimited debt financing, or continued parabolic returns on investments. You can’t spend your way out of inflation. There is now a return to the mean and that is good news for the next generation. Easy money is never easy. Success is earned and above-average returns require skill and thought.
