“
… prices rose by 9.3% compared with the same month a year before, preliminary data from the federal statistics office showed, beating analyst expectations of a rise of 9.0% and slightly higher than January's 9.2% increase. Compared to January, prices increased by 1.0%, the office added, also beating forecasts of a 0.7% month-on-month rise.
“The surprise inflation figures from Europe's largest economy come a day after two of the euro zone's biggest economies - Spain and France - also posted unexpected rises. The ECB has raised interest rates by 300 basis points since July and promised another oversized move in March, but some policymakers have called for more measured action after March as inflation is now off the highs it hit in October.”
Story from U.S. NewsI can’t imagine anything good coming out of this, either for Germany or the rest of the world. Hope it’s not a harbinger of things to come in the U.S. That 1% month-over-month figure is particularly troubling to me as someone who lived thru the inflationary 1980s. It was the figure a lot of us simply multiplied (x12) to try and wrap our heads around how fast prices of goods and services were increasing.
Anyone else see the massive wealth stashed away / invested by the “baby-boomers” as part of the Fed’s problem? It appears it’s the services sector (including hospitality / travel) that’s stoking inflation the most in the U.S. Would the Fed be willing to try and provoke a market crash to stifle that excess demand if inflation continued to worsen? Before you laugh, recall some of their comments just 3 months ago expressing angst that the stock market had risen after their last statement.
Comments