by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
Inflation Whac A Mole. Housing Inflation may be peaking at 8%+, but rents re-accelerated.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April, released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was marked by a very unwelcome reversal in durable goods prices which suddenly jumped again month-to-month. This was driven by a spike in used vehicle prices. A month ago, we explained why this spike would happen, based on underlying dynamics in prior months and called it a “turning point” in used vehicle prices. Today, it looks like a U-turn.
The systemic threats to the U.S. financial system were not remedied when Congress passed the watered-down Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation in 2010. While that has been evident with each Federal Reserve bailout of the mega banks and their derivative counterparties, the threat has now gained increased urgency for Congress to confront as a result of a new academic study. A team of four highly-credentialed academics at four separate universities present compelling evidence that one of the four largest U.S. banks, with “assets above $1 trillion,” could be at risk of a bank run.
