Gold prices reflect a shift in paradigm – Part I

Surging Services Costs Spark Unexpected Surge In US Producer Prices In January US Producer Prices came in hotter than expected in January, with the headline PPI rising 0.5% MoM (vs +0.3% exp), higher than the revised +0.4% MoM in December. This left Producer Prices up 2.9% YoY (hotter than expected but below December's +3.0%)... Source: Bloomberg Under the hood, we see a surge in Services costs (not tariff related) dominated the rise in PPI (while Energy saw deflation) Final demand services: The index for final demand services advanced 0.8% in January, the largest...

Moscow Repels Another Large-Scale Ukrainian Drone Attack, Flights Briefly Grounded Russian officials are describing a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeting the capital of Moscow on Sunday. While not the first time, such aerial assaults so deep in Russian territory have remained somewhat rare. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Sunday afternoon that Russian air defenses intercepted 13 drones headed for the capital, as regional officials reported a sweeping wave of UAV attacks across western Russia - including hundreds of UAVs in total. Standard Ukrainian drone, via the General Staff of the Armed Forces of...

Companies Report Raging Inflation, Except In Wages & Rents Authored by Wolf Richter via Wolf Street, Manufacturers reported that the costs of health insurance for employees shot up by 14.2% on average; service firms reported an average increase of 12.9%, according to a report by the New York Fed based on a survey of companies in the New York-Northern New Jersey region. These are averages, but “some firms reported increases of between 25% and 50% when they renewed their coverage,” the report said. Manufacturers and service firms both reported that the costs...