Federal Reserve Raises Fed Funds Rate by 75 Basis Points

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 25, 2022, the Federal Reserve raised its Fed Funds rate by 0.75% to a range of 1.5%-1.75%. The vote was 11 to 1 with the dissenter voting for an increase of just 0.50%. The 75-basis point move was the largest since 1994. The Fed also reiterated its intention to...

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 14, 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Producer Price Index data for the month of May. Prices rose 0.8% in May, following increases of 0.4% in April and 1.6% in March. Producer prices advanced 10.8% in the 12 months ending in May. In May, the Index for...

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 10, 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index information for the month of May. Prices rose 1.0% in May, compared to an increase of 0.3% in April. Energy prices increased 3.9% in May after declining 2.7% in April. Food prices rose 1.2% in May. For…

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 7, 2022, the World Bank released its mid-year economic forecast report, updating the estimates from it January 2022 report. All the major economic regions have been downgraded in terms of economic growth as defined by GDP (Gross Domestic Product). We note that the latest projections…

By Tom Burnett CFA According to the June 7 edition of WSJ.com, the commodities group is by far the best performing asset class of the 2022 year. The Bloomberg Commodity Index is up 37.5% this year, led by the energy and food sectors. Natural Gas has risen an astonishing 149.9% and gasoline is up 88.2%…