Monday, May 19, 2008

Who's Right About US Inflation: Consumers or TIPS?

The University of Michigan survey shows that consumers are expecting inflation as high as 5.2%, while the inflation premium in the TIPs (treasury inflation protected securities) is 2.9%, which is still lower than the 20-year average for inflation of over 3%. So who is right, US consumers or the TIPs?
The answer is that TIPS have chronically underestimated inflation. Traders keep talking about the massive move in commodities being a "bubble" that will burst and bring commodity prices back to earth, while consumers are seeing their take home pay being eroded daily by higher prices of consumer staples like gas, milk, etc. and their net worth in terms of the value of their house slip-sliding away. Prices of consumer durables are falling, but prices of consumer staples are rising--even though a Bloomberg survey shows that US economic growth in the next quarter is expected to be "zero" and the worst since the 2001 recession.

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