Friday, November 18, 2022

"Japan's inflation hits 40-year high as weak yen fans import costs"

One of the reasons the powers-that-be can't let the dollar get too weak is the dramatic effect that would have on the price of "stuff", so much of which is, as is also the case in Japan, imported.

From Nikkei, November 18:

Japan's core consumer inflation accelerated to a 40-year high in October as a weak yen pushed up the cost of imported commodities, which were already surging due to global supply constraints.

The data suggests Japanese companies may be shaking off their deflationary mindset as they gradually raise prices of everything from fuel to food while coming under pressure from cost-push inflation.

The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food prices but includes energy, rose 3.6% year on year in October, versus a 3.5% rise expected by economists, and accelerating from the prior month's 3.0% gain.

The jump marked the fastest gain since February 1982.

It also confirmed CPI growth remained above the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) 2% inflation goal for a seventh straight month....

....MUCH MORE

A 10% decrease in the dollar would either: add ten percentage points to goods inflation, cut profit margins by ten points or a combination of the two giving us either inflation, recession or stagflation.  

So that being the case the Fed, Treasury and American politicians have pretty much said "The rest of the world be damned."