Inflation and Economics

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, the cost of food at home increased 13.1% in the month of July, but many consumers are now concerned about the size of the products they're purchasing, also known as shrinkflation. Brooke DiPalma here to break it all down. Brooke, you went out to grocery stores. You saw it. How--

Netflix Inc. bounced back. Can Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service continue to grow despite a warning from Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy in May of increased costs amid macroeconomic hurdles?

Sheldon Jacobson: ‘Shrinkflation’ — the downsizing of prepackaged goods — has been happening for years

One is product shortages, as with the shortage of personal protective equipment early in the pandemic and recently with infant formula. But are we willing to pay higher prices for less reliance on the global supply chain?

Brian Levitt, global market strategist for Invesco says that there is some good news in the market -- with signs that the bond market is expecting inflation to slow and ease and other indicators showing promise -- but everyone should be watching the impact of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes to see how long the current doldrums drag on. Levitt noted that less than 25 percent of companies on the New York Stock Exchange are trading above their 200-day moving average, and that the market typically bottoms out when that number reaches 15 percent, but he noted that commodity prices, interest rates and inflation all must moderate before the market gets to a more solid footing. Also on the show, Professor Pelin Pekgun from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina discusses inflation and how supply chain issues typically get resolved so that an economy can break the cycle of rising prices and shortages to return to normal, Ted Rossman of Bankrate.com discusses the record levels of household debt -- but a surprising drop in credit-card debt -- reported Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Andy Behar of As You Sow discusses the group's research showing that many social investment funds aren't practicing what their name says they should preach, holding stocks that don't belong in a fund built around current governance standards.

In the last four weeks, more than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country to escape Russian forces, facing an uncertain future and placing new economic demands on host countries such as Poland. Besides this recent crisis, more than 80 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, notably in Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moscow’s war on Ukraine and the ferocious financial backlash it’s unleashed are not only inflicting an economic catastrophe on President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

America’s National Debt Crisis Might Just Be Beginning: As of the final day of January, the United States’ national debt sat at $29,912,456. That’s almost $90,000 per citizen and $239,087 per taxpayer. These numbers are rapidly rising and despite promises from successive presidents to bring that figure down, the figure increased at an even more rapid rate over the last two years as the federal government implemented multiple federal COVID relief packages. 

Consumer prices popped again in December, casting a shadow over the economy.