The Labor Department reports the consumer price index jumped 0.3% in December which matched expectations. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose 0.2%. A string of gains since summer drovee up inflation by 2.1% for all of 2016, for fhe biggest increase since a 3% gain in 2011. Americans are paying more for fuel, housing, and medical care, but less for food. Rents are up 4.0 nationwide, and medical care is up 4.3%. Inflation-adjusted wages rose 0.8% in 2016, and a smaller 0.5% for most employees not in management positions.
The National Association of Home Builders reported its sentiment index fell 2 points in January to 67. Economists expected 69. December was the index’s highest point since the peak of the housing boom in 2005, and January was second-highest in the wake fo the election of Donald Trump.
Britain’s Supreme Court will issue its decision Jan. 24 on whether the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May must consult parliament on her plans for Brexit. The judges have been weighing arguments in the government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that it doesn’t have the right to unilaterally invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would begin formal talks for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Union.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
