Inflation nation heats up as CEOs to White House talk prices
How investors can find opportunity in inflation: Expert
Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO Richard Bernstein provides insight into economic recovery, the markets, inflation, taxes and what to expect from America’s GDP.
Inflation talk, after years of being dead in the water, is gaining momentum on Main and Wall Street as reports of higher prices at the grocery store and the pump, with gas averaging $2.91 a gallon per AAA, are fueling the conversation.
"Mentions of "inflation" are now up nearly 800%" compared to the year-ago first-quarter earnings season, noted the team at Bank of America led by Savita Subramanian.
Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
---|---|---|---|---|
I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 13633.503441 | -261.61 | -1.88% |
SP500 | S&P 500 | 4164.66 | -28.00 | -0.67% |
I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 34133.03 | +19.80 | +0.06% |
Inflation chatter turned hotter on Tuesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gave her take on managing the economic rebound.
YELLEN SAYS RATE MAY NEED TO RISE TO HANDLE INFLATION
"It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat," she said during a summit hosted by The Atlantic. Her remarks put downward pressure on U.S. equities.
Consumer prices jumped 2.6% in March compared to the same period a year ago, the highest year-over-year rise since August of 2018.
Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
---|---|---|---|---|
KMB | KIMBERLY-CLARK | 134.72 | -0.02 | -0.01% |
Companies including Kimberly Clark, maker of Cottonelle toilet paper, said it would raise prices before the end of June "across a majority of its North America consumer products business" to help offset "significant commodity cost inflation." Freight costs are also rising as companies try to navigate what was pent-up-pandemic demand.
Still, the threat of runaway inflation is not much of a threat, according to Richard Bernstein of Bernstein Advisors.
"Demand has picked up so rapidly that we are seeing some short-term bottlenecks but the longer-term story is I think we will see more inflation than people think, rather than less, but don’t think the 1970s. That’s way too extreme," he remarked during an appearance on "Mornings With Maria" on FOX Business.