Rising Stock Prices Threaten Progress on Powell Inflation Gauge
- Portfolio management component set to boost services prices
- Recent stock-market run-up is behind the renewed acceleration
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergA key gauge of services inflation touted by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set for a surge in figures due Thursday, almost entirely due the recent run-up in the stock market.
Prices of services excluding housing and energy, a category Powell flagged in his Aug. 25 Jackson Hole speech, may have risen as much as 0.5% in July, following more moderate 0.2% increases in each of the prior two months, according to forecasters including Omair Sharif of Inflation Insights LLC and Skanda Amarnath at Employ America.