Economics Update

the producer price index rose 1.2% in July, that comes to about 15% inflation, and the year over year rate was 9.8%.

Inflation is back....Truth be told, it was never gone, it's just that the government statistics concealed it, and we are now running into the limits of such accounting artistry.

We also are seeing housing starts at a 17 year low, so it looks like stagflation to me.

I just hope that it isn't an Argentina/USSR style collapse.

I would note that a lot of this inflation is commodities, and they are down.

Both oil and gasoline (33rd straight day) fell again.

That being said, the dollar was down again today. Those inflation numbers probably scared traders.

Finally it looks like Lehman may be forced to sell its money management division in order to raise capital to offset its losses.