Fresh look coming this week at how consumers are handling inflation, higher interest rates
Prices, spending and confidence — the consumer is the focus for investors and the Federal Reserve this week.
First is Monday’s report on consumer inflation. The August data is likely to show price hikes have cooled for the second month in a row, primarily thanks to lower gasoline prices. Still, people continue feeling the pinch of higher prices compared to a year ago. And declines in energy prices may be masking hotter inflationary trends continuing to burn away at consumers’ spending power.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland calculates an inflation rate that focuses on categories that are less volatile each month. It gives a cleaner picture of the underlying price pressures and their sustainability. In July, the official Consumer Price Index showed no change in inflation from a month earlier. However, the Cleveland Fed’s measurement had median inflation moving up another one-half of 1%.
“Median inflation is a statistically better measure of the underlying inflation that policy makers can actually control,” former White House Council of Economic Advisors Chairman
Jason Furman wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal.
This is why central bankers will not be swayed by a “good print” this week on the Consumer Price Index. The headline inflation data shouldn’t deter the Fed from continuing to aggressively raise interest rates when it meets again next week, and investors shouldn’t be lulled into a sense of complacency.
Consumers certainly aren’t. Retail sales have been decent, even though consumer dollars are buying less since inflation keeps eroding purchasing power. The strong jobs market, wage increases and bloated retailer inventories have helped blunt the effects of inflation.
On Thursday, August retail sales data will be released. Earlier interest rate hikes this year have yet to meaningfully cool consumer appetites. That gives the Fed more room to hike borrowing costs in its effort to tame inflation.
Consumers have been growing more confident, too, especially about future inflation. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey for August will be revealed Friday. After falling to its lowest level since the Great Recession earlier this summer, consumer expectations have been brightening. Further consumer optimism supports an aggressive Fed.
This week’s economic data should cement investor expectations for another sizable Fed interest rate hike by the end of September.
Tom Hudson is a financial journalist and chief content officer at WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C.