Excerpt from TradingMarkets.com directly relevant to the topic of this thread:
<i>"Equity Market Dreads Slow Growth/Rising Inflation
By Kevin Haggerty
... It was kind of funny listening to Fed Chairman Bernanke yesterday telling us that inflation is the biggest threat. Sounds to me like he is trying to talk the US dollar up, indicating they will raise rates if need be. There is no doubt that industrial metal prices have skyrocketed again, but this is not the case with the economy. Maybe he is worried about the low-ball bogus inflation numbers we get from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even the Dallas Federal Reserve Chairman recently questioned the quality of the numbers and the market dislocations that can result.
If the current inflation numbers were calculated the same way they were before the Clinton administration revised them, they would be considerably higher. According to data on pre-Clinton era CPI, it would be just under 5%, and the current official government data is only about 1.5% (
www.shadowstats.com). The Clinton revision was obviously done to keep the government interest payments down, and for other political purposes, but it also screws everyone that gets cost-of-living raises, etc, based on the CPI. That includes all the people on Social Security.
Bernanke knows inflation is much higher than reported, and is now looking at an economy that is slowing down significantly. Third quarter GDP was +1.6, the slowest since 2003, the slump in the housing market is the worst since the early 80's, and yesterday's durable goods orders fell the most in six years, not to mention the inverted yield curve. The slow growth and rising inflation is the worst scenario for the equity market, and it will get very crowded at the exits."
Have a good trading day,
Kevin Haggerty</i>