What’s going on guys, it is Tuesday, September 14 and today we are talking about what billions in crypto fundraises tell us about the state of markets. Before we do that, however, I just want to do a single point on the Brief which is about inflation. It was inflation day and year-over-year, we’re still at 5.3%. That’s down 5.4% in June and July, however. So in terms of rate of change, the one-month increase in June was 0.9%, and the one-month increase in July was 0.5%. The one-month increase last month in August was 0.3%. So, there seems to be some slowing. Now, there are a couple ways to look at this. The first is that CPI is a bad, incomplete measure of inflation, and we should ignore it. This is, like I said, the Brief so I’ll leave that tape to the side for now. The second is that CPI is slowing down and that the Fed has been right that this is all transitory inflation. It almost certainly seems to me like how many pundits will take it. But a third interpretation, which is one I’ve seen in a few outlets, is that this is something of a headfake. Here’s what a commentator in the Wall Street Journal said: “The August CPI report might be a little bit of a headfake, honestly,” because “other factors might be moving under the surface: there was a growing risk that higher inflation exacerbated by ongoing supply chain frictions could put a dent in demand next year.” Anyway, this is deserving of more than a Brief but I wanted to at least give you that update, on the day that these inflation numbers came out.
