‘Transitory’ inflation claims look less convincing

The further jump in CPI inflation in May was again driven by a handful of categories most affected by the lifting of pandemic restrictions. But there were also clear signs that inflationary pressures are becoming more widespread, with rent of shelter inflation in the early stages of a cyclical rebound and the jump in food away from home prices a sign that severe labour shortages, and the resulting upward pressure on wages, are starting to feed through. Those trends are much less likely to be transitory, particularly when inflation expectations have continued to trend higher. With the economy still a long way from the Fed’s full employment goal we doubt that officials will be in any rush to bring forward plans for tightening policy. But we suspect the Fed will eventually be forced to admit that higher core inflation will prove more persistent they initially believed.