The Federal Reserve May Choose to Ignore the Inflation Expectations of Households

First, Bernanke made it clear he thinks gold is not a good indicator of inflation expectations. Now, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has produced research that could convince the Fed to insulate itself from the inflation expectations of average Americans in “Household Inflation Expectations and the Price of Oil: It’s Déjà Vu All … Read more

A Danger of Inflation: The Misallocation of Resources on the Way to Sustained Price Increases

(Adapted from original article in Inflation Watch) In January of this year, Professor Russ Roberts of George Mason University invited fellow economics professor Don Boudreaux to address “Monetary Misunderstandings” on the weekly podcast “EconTalk.” From the synopsis: “Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts on some of the common misunderstandings … Read more

Reckless Endangerment: Financial Risks Are Even Bigger Now

Gretchen Morgenson and Josh Rosner wrote Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon to describe how the recovery from the financial panic and recession have resolved little and have left the economy at tremendous risk for an even larger crisis. Aaron Task interviews the authors on Yahoo! Finance’s Daily Ticker. … Read more

Searching for A Corral for the Silver Stampede

What has changed in the two months it took for silver to stampede its way up $15 (a 43% gain) and back? Did the Federal Reserve raise rates? Did the Federal Reserve threaten the market with rate hikes? Did the housing market rebound sharply, generating an expectation for higher rates? Did inflation expectations adjust sharply? … Read more

The Fed-Inspired S&P 500 Likely to Remain Overbought As Index Reaches for Previous Uptrend

With the S&P 500 hitting fresh 3-year highs this week, the index is poised to recapture the previous uptrend that was interrupted by March’s double calamities of the Japan earthquake and hostilities in Libya. The stock market is overbought with T2108, the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs), at a … Read more