The talking heads on CNBC this morning (3/29/22) where talking about how against the drop in oil/gas prices businesses where adopted price INCREASES of up to 25%!…..
With the Fed raising interest rates against inflation is a recession on the horizon?
The price of oil briefly fell below $100 per barrel and stocks climbed Tuesday as cease-fire talks raised hopes of progress, with Ukraine outlining a peace proposal and Russia promising to drastically reduce its military activity near Kyiv.
The U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell 6 percent to about $99.50 per barrel before inching back above the centennial mark. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 4.6 percent to $107 per barrel.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up around 350 points, or 1 percent, shortly after the opening bell Tuesday. The broader S&P 500 index jumped 0.9 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.3 percent.
Oil prices have shown significant volatility since Russia invaded its neighbor in late February, typically moving inversely to stocks amid news from Ukraine. Oil surged past $130 per barrel in early March before retreating, surging again, and falling again. The price fell 7 percent Monday as Shanghai said it would go into lockdown to combat a resurgence of the novel coronavirus.
The increase and volatility in oil prices have had a significant effect on retail fuel prices: On Tuesday, the U.S. average for a gallon of gasoline stood at $4.24 a gallon — 63 cents higher than last month and $1.38 more than a year ago.
Investors are also anticipating a string of reports this week that could refocus attention on the U.S. economy. A report on home prices from S&P Case-Shiller reported that home prices rose 19 percent in the one-year period ending in January. The results of the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey will be released Tuesday, as will new data on consumer confidence…
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While prices at supermarkets and even local stores have been steadily increasing for the last year — upwards of 9% as a whole since early 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index — shoppers are reeling at dramatic monthly upticks in 2022. In February alone, groceries as a whole cost around 1.5% more than they did the month prior, and forecasts for March are projected for that figure to continue rising….
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Analysts have recalculated their 2022 forecasts for grocery prices after current rates, largely impacted by international conflict, have significantly surpassed expectations in the first two months of the year. Officials in the U.S. Department of Agriculture have released updated guidelines acknowledging that a recent increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve is expected to put further pressure on food prices in the future.
“All food prices are now predicted to increase between 4.5 and 5.5%,” the report reads. “Food-at-home prices are predicted to increase between 3 and 4% in 2022.”…