Sherry Cooper Inflation Quotations

If the incoming data remain relatively soft, including the inflation data, the Fed will take a pass in August, ... Even if they do raise rates, it may well be the end of the tightening cycle, which is very good news for the stock and bond markets.

Recall the Fed's assessment following the (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting on Aug. 24, that the dual summertime rate hikes 'should markedly diminish the risk of inflation going forward,' ... This call is looking more tenuous with every passing day.

This report will not change the Fed's view on the inflation outlook -- they will keep rates low for still some months to come.

Despite the pop in core PPI inflation in July, there appears to be little pressure lurking on the horizon in the near term. The pipeline measures remain subdued and vehicle pricing appears to have distorted the figures.

The bank's new focus is likely to be on rising wage pressures, but that still seems a distant inflation threat at this point. On balance, there is nothing here to divert the bank from its gradual tightening course.

Armed with the weaker U.S. dollar, commodity prices heading north, and a strengthening economy, rising inflation pressure is still likely to emerge as a concern for the Fed. But not yet. Not yet.

The Fed might have been in a dilemma if signs of slower growth were coupled with signs of a wage/price spiral. However, that is emphatically not the case. The underlying inflation outlook is not a problem for the Fed or the financial markets.

The Fed and the markets will see few signs of slowing in these figures, but little reason to fear an impending inflation acceleration either ,

Inflation in the U.S. remains virtually non-existent, as does corporate pricing power.

I'm not worried about inflation per se ; I'm worried about inflation in asset prices. When the Fed has been aggressively easy in the past, it's ended up having to come in and aggressively raise interest rates and cause a lot of unnecessary dislocation.

Clearly the new paradigm is alive and well, ... While (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan downplayed the policy significance of CPI in his remarks last night, it is still a major positive for investors that core inflation remains benign.

High energy prices keep on working their way through the system. The risks remain skewed to a mild up-creep in core inflation during the months ahead, which will keep the Fed on track for another rate hike in March and likely in May.

The great post-Katrina inflation scare has vanished, with gasoline prices coming back down to Earth and core inflation on track to match the Bank of Canada's latest estimate of 1.6 per cent for Q4.

The inflation data does not take the Fed out of the picture. It does, however, remove the risk of the Fed having to tighten 50 basis points on June 30.

The inflation data does not take the Fed out of the picture,

The economy is in very good shape and people don't realize it. We really do have low inflation and low unemployment, and the economy has been growing at a rate of 3 percent or better since the last recession.