Peter's Blog

Why Quantitative Methods Fall Short in Economic Analysis

Interventionists insist markets require elite, educated technocrats to study and calibrate advanced models of the economy. Much like a physicist in a lab, they see themselves as scientific and data-driven, but as the Austrian School demonstrates, economics is nothing like the natural sciences.

13-Week Money Supply Slows into the Summer Months

Money Supply is a very important indicator. It helps show how tight or loose current monetary conditions are regardless of what the Fed is doing with interest rates. Even if the Fed is tight, if Money Supply is increasing, it has an inflationary effect.

Richmond Factory Gauge Falls Off a Cliff

Manufacturing in the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District hit the brakes hard in July, and the yellow metal took notice. The Richmond Fed reported Tuesday that its composite manufacturing index collapsed to –20 from June’s already-weak –8, falling well below the consensus expectation of -2. Shipments, new orders, and employment all sank deeper into negative territory, […]

Fed Governor Waller Urges July Rate Cut

Christopher J. Waller says the central bank should not wait until autumn to ease policy. Speaking to the Money Marketeers of New York University on July 17th, he argued for a 25-basis-point trim to the federal-funds target range “in two weeks.” With growth fizzling, hiring sputtering, and tariffs muddying the inflation picture, Waller believes quick […]

Why is Gold Stereotyped as a Low-Performing Investment?

If you ask most people why they have little or no gold, they will often tell you that the stock market gets much higher returns. This is said with a great amount of conviction, as if it were an obvious fact. However, that fact is far less obvious than they might think. Gold has fared […]

Recession Bells Ring Louder as Conference Board’s LEI Sinks

The U.S. economy’s “early-warning siren” just grew louder. The Conference Board reported Monday that its Leading Economic Index (LEI) fell 0.3 percent in June to 98.8—a level not seen since 2020. The decline extends the LEI’s losing streak to 18 of the last 19 months and pushes its six-month drop to 2.8 percent. With the […]

Why the CBO Can’t Warn About an Inflation-Driven Debt Crisis

Longtime followers of infeneo (and its associated InFi podcast) know that I am no friend of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). My chief complaint is that their ostensibly unorthodox ways of viewing government finance are incredibly misleading, at least in the hands of some of their most popular gurus. In today’s post I’ll give yet another example, this one coming from […]

How Inflation Nearly Undermined the American Revolution

Inflation isn’t a new problem. In fact, it has plagued this country since its founding. Even though the American Revolution– and its monetary soundness– are worth celebrating, its lesser-known history reveals how war and inflation go hand-in-hand.

June Inflation Higher Than Expected, Driven by Shelter

Spring’s brief lull in price pressure has faded. At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that headline CPI rose 0.3 percent in June and 2.7 percent year over year, up from May’s 2.4 percent pace and higher than the 2.6% consensus forecast. Core CPI—excluding food and energy—advanced 0.2 percent on the month […]

Last Week in Metals: Other Metals Join the Party

Gold finished last week at US $3,352 per ounce, a modest 0.6 % gain that nonetheless leaves the metal up an eye-catching 28.5 % year-to-date. Monday’s trade saw prices probe as high as US $3,365, keeping bullion within arm’s reach of the two-month trading ceiling that technicians have marked at US $3,395. All of this […]