- The good news is that President Biden said that tackling inflation is his “top domestic policy.” The bad news is that the burden of fighting inflation falls mostly on the Fed raising key interest rates, which could depreciate asset values like homes and stock prices.
- European inflation soared to a record high annual rate of 8.1% in the eurozone in May, up from a 7.4% annual pace in April. A weak euro is one of the primary culprits. The other is the soaring cost of energy, as the EU is still trying to wean itself off Russian energy by the end of the year.
- The Labor Department on Friday announced that 390,000 payroll jobs were created in May, well above the economists’ consensus estimate of 328,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%, which is historically in the super-low “full employment” range.
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A 'Fall Guy' (Gal) For High Inflation