On September 13, 2022, the real gold price of Laiyin Jewelry Gold was 469 yuan/gram, an increase of 2 yuan/gram compared with the previous trading day. The price of platinum was quoted at 374 yuan/gram today, an increase of 9 yuan/gram compared with the previous trading day. The price of gold bars is 432 yuan/gram today, an increase of 2 yuan/gram compared with the previous trading day.
U.S. consumer one-year inflation expectations fell further in August to lowest since October
Inflation expectations among U.S. consumers fell further in August, with gasoline prices continuing to fall sharply from record highs set in June, a development likely to be welcomed by Fed policymakers as they weigh how much to raise interest rates next week.
The New York Fed’s monthly survey of consumer expectations released on Monday showed that consumers saw inflation in the next 12 months at 5.75% in August, the lowest since October 2021, and was expected to be 6.2% in July. Consumers also expect an average price increase of 2.8% over the next three years, the weakest since the end of 2020, compared with expectations of 3.2% in July.
In addition, consumers in August saw price growth expected to be 2 percent over the next five years, in line with the Fed’s inflation target. Consumer expectations were 2.35% in July, up from 3% at the start of the year, when the New York Fed first started asking about five-year inflation expectations.
The results could offer some comfort to Fed policymakers, who have been concerned that 40-year highs could change consumers’ perceptions of the persistence of the current price shock, making it more difficult for policymakers to control inflation.
The U.S. Labor Department will release August consumer price index (CPI) data on Tuesday. Economists forecast CPI would rise 8.1% in the 12 months to August. In July, it jumped 8.5% from a year earlier.
The New York Fed survey also provided some upbeat news for the labor market, which Fed officials expect to loosen as they raise interest rates to reduce overall activity and demand.
Consumers who responded to the New York Fed’s survey in August felt they were less likely to lose their jobs in the next year than they were in July, and more likely to find a new one if they lost their current job. This suggests that consumers may be convinced by what the Fed calls a “soft landing” for the economy, in which tightening Fed policy would deliver a relatively modest hit to employment but not trigger the sharp unemployment rate typically associated with recessions rise.