Uncle Sam Isn’t Santa Claus

Following Friday’s CPI shocker, the financial media seem to have concluded that the Fed will have no choice but to raise the federal funds rate faster than planned to bring inflation down—causing a recession. The Fed is now expected to raise the federal funds rate on Wednesday by 75bps rather than 50bps. The two-year Treasury note soared 23bps on Friday to 3.06%, implying investor expectations that the Fed will have to increase the federal funds rate by 200bps over the next 12 months. All those expectations make sense to us.

The risks of a recession are increasing, but consumers may continue to keep the economy growing for a while longer. They’ve been forced to spend more on gasoline and food. These essentials accounted for 16.7% of disposable personal income (DPI) during April, the highest since early 2014. To deal with the rapid increases in the prices of gas and groceries, consumers have reduced personal saving as a percentage of DPI to 4.4%, the lowest since late 2009.