ECONOMICS

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) drives markets and motivates policy, but it is nothing but speculation, estimation and wild guesses.

A recent “tweak” to the health insurance CPI reveals the formula is basically a scam.

As I’ve emphasized over and over, the CPI generally understates rising prices. The formula is designed to do so, and in the 1990s, the government made it even worse.

In 1998, the Bureau of Labor (more…)

Led by declines in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) tumbled to -0.49 (below 0 meaning below-trend growth), well below expectations of 0.0 and September's -0.02 print.

Source: Bloomberg

Only 24 of the 85 individual indicators made positive contributions to the CFNAI in October, while 61 made negative contributions.

The overall trend of CFNAI is clear…

Source: Bloomberg

The slump was broad-based with all (more…)

By Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves

Since launching in 2017, FreightWaves’ team of award-winning reporters has covered the good — and bad — news and events in the transportation and logistics industries.

In those years, the freight (more…)