Inflation continues to climb and the stock market shakes it off!

[BigBalls]

Energy, food and gas prices keep climbing and the Fed is locked into reducing rates. I’m ok with this because stocks continue to pop.

“Inflation continues to heat up as consumers feel strained everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store aisle.

The Consumer Price Index rose 3% over the prior year in September and 0.3% from August, with the monthly hike driven by higher gas, energy, and food prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The highly anticipated inflation report was delayed by 10 days due to the government shutdown, which has left official economic data at a standstill.

Stomach pain
Food prices were up 0.2% on a monthly basis in September — not quite as bad as the 0.5% increase seen from July to August. Still, prices are up 3.1% from a year ago as classic kitchen staples become more expensive.

Consider coffee prices, which are up 18.9% from a year ago despite sliding by a modest 0.1% between August and September. Other breakfast items, including the category that features fresh sweetrolls, coffee cakes, and doughnuts, are also marching higher.

Then there’s beef. Prices for beef and veal overall are 14.7% higher than a year ago, with ground beef in particular 12.9% higher in price than last September. Other meat price hikes are a bit easier to digest: chicken is up 1.5% from last September, and pork chops are up 0.3%.

Meanwhile, Americans shopping for chocolate bars and gummies ahead of Halloween might be a bit frightened by their grocery receipt. Candy and chewing gum prices overall are up 9.8% from last year, and rose 0.5% between August and September.

But eggs — a particular pain point for consumers in the spring, though perhaps not the ideal Halloween treat — have continued to decline in price, and are down 1.3% from a year ago and plummeted 4.7% from a month earlier. A dozen large Grade A eggs cost an average of $3.49 in September, compared to $3.82 last September.

Are tariffs costing us more?
Economists and consumers alike are on high alert for signs of President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs showing up at the cash register. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy, rose 3% year over year in September, while climbing just 0.2% from a month earlier.

Import-heavy categories that saw notable increases include home furnishings and canned foods.

“Tariffs are still pushing up goods prices and the passthrough is broadening, with clothing, furniture and personal goods prices all posting strong gains,” Michael Pearce, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said in a statement. “We estimate tariffs have added 0.4ppts to headline inflation. Assuming tariffs do not rise much further from here, that one-off boost to goods prices from tariffs and the weaker dollar will begin to fade next year.”

[Java]

Looks like the tariff warriors are happy.

tqqq shot up from 102 to 110 this week  and that’s scary as I have a call to sell 500k shares at $112.  11/21.  So I may have to buy it out and look way down the road to Jan or Feb to get it to $122 as a sell point. And by doing so lose out on that easy $10-$20k I pocketed weekly.  Of course whenever I do that it basically means I’ve gained 50,000k times 10.  So going through those gymnastics for a half a mil every few months takes a lot of pain away

 

speaking of which.  I sold calls on lam research. 16,000 shares.  Lrcx.  At $120 and eventually flipped it to $126.  It’s at $151 now.  So I’ll have to buy out out and resell at $135. And a month later try for $145 and so on and hope lam doesn’t run away from me.  Again.  The good news is everytime I have to roll it forward.  Say from 126 to 135?   That’s about $150,000 gain.  I’d just like not to have to play catch up just to keep my stock

 

intel.  Same.  Dog stock for years low 20’s.  Wild calls at $30.  Suddenly with the government and everyone else wanting to save intel it’s at $38.  And I got my calls up to $34.  After yesterday $35.50.  think

So I’m   really dancing to keep my shares and not sell them below market.

on the plus side these are nice problems to have.  Making a lot and doing gyrations to manipulate things to make even more.

still making $40k to $80k a week on Carvana though   Can’t beat that

 

[Author]

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