by Jim Rickards, Daily Reckoning:

Despite the Wall Street happy talk about the Federal Reserve winning the battle against inflation, that battle has not been won.

Headline CPI (the kind Americans actually pay, not constructs like “core” and “super-core”) was 3.4% in December. That compares to 3.1% in November and 3.0% last June (the January numbers will come out tomorrow).

In other words, inflation is not gone and may even be on the rise with higher oil prices lately due to geopolitical concerns. The Fed will not raise rates, but they will not be quick to cut them given continued inflation.