Stocks Drop Following Blistering Retail Sales Data

 | Nov 17, 2022 08:44

If inflation is cooling, you would never know from those retail sales numbers that came out yesterday. I’m not going to get into all the data, but the numbers were better than expected. One item that I found interesting was the Food and Drink numbers; like going out to dinner, it was up 14.1% y/y. Interestingly, it steadily decreased, but it recently turned higher again. That’s inflation. I have seen it first hand, in my own experience.

Inflation, from my perspective, is just moving around and shifting, and perhaps more importantly, the University of Michigan number that shows inflation expectations among consumers is rising again. Meanwhile, the NY Fed inflation expectation for consumers was growing too.

It is also worth mentioning that the Atlanta Fed sees 4Q growth at 4.4%, so if there is a recession, I’m not seeing it yet.