The S&P 500 Breaks 4,500

This morning, the government released the personal income and spending numbers for July. This report always comes out the day after the GDP report. Personal income gained 1.1% while spending rose 0.3%. The slowdown in spending is probably due to the delta variant.

Over the last year, the core personal consumption price index is up by 3.6%. That’s the fastest growth rate in 30 years. This is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told CNBC on Friday that business contacts in his region have told him they see inflation persisting beyond the near-term time frame.

“We don’t want and we really can’t afford to have inflation that is too high, because people at the lower end of the spectrum are going to be hurt pretty significantly,” he told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a “Squawk Box” interview.

Much of the current inflation pressure is coming from energy and food, which rose 23.6% and 2.4%, respectively, from a year ago.

The stock market doesn’t seem too bothered. The S&P 500 is up to another new high. The S&P 500 broke 4,500 today. It first topped 45 on September 16, 1955. It then broke 450 on March 8, 1993. Going way back, the index last broke 4.5 on July 11, 1932.

Posted by on August 27th, 2021 at 3:20 pm


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