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Macro Trends Advisors LLC founding partner Mitch Roschelle warned on Sunday that inflation will be “here for a while” as consumer prices hit a new four-decade high last month.
Speaking on “Fox News Live,” Roschelle forecasted that price hikes will likely go even “higher.”
“Shelter costs, what it costs for housing, ends up being a lagging indicator the way it’s calculated by the government,” he noted. “And those prices are continuing to go up.”
Roschelle pointed out that “home prices are going up even though interest rates are going up” and “rent is skyrocketing.”
GAS PRICES HIT $5 NATIONWIDE FOR FIRST TIME IN OVER 2 DECADES
“So I think You have that as a tailwind pushing up inflation,” he stressed.
Earlier this month the Labor Department revealed that the consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April. Those figures were both higher than the 8.3% headline figure and 0.7% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists.
It marked the fastest pace of Inflation since December 1981.
Roschelle noted that the higher prices are forcing Americans to “make choices.”
Shelter costs – which account for roughly one-third of the CPI – accelerated in May, climbing 0.6%. It marked the fastest one-month gain since 2004. On an annual basis, shelter costs have climbed 5.5%, the fastest since February 1991.
Energy prices rose 3.9% in May from the previous month, and are up 34.6% from last year. Gasoline, on average, costs 48.7% more than it did one year ago and 7.8% more than it did in April. In all, fuel prices jumped 16.9% in May on a monthly basis, pushing the one-year increase to a stunning 106.7%.
On Sunday, the national average for gas was $4.90, slightly lower than the day before and 30 cents higher than the month before, according to AAA.
Gas prices have been hitting records recently with the national average above $5 a gallon two weeks ago, according to the association.
Roschelle pointed out that “oil prices, whether it be diesel or gasoline, flows through virtually everything we consume.”
“Food on the table has to get from wherever it came, to the store that you bought it in or the restaurant that serves it,” he continued.
“If gasoline prices stayed the same or go up, and more importantly if diesel prices go up, I think that’s going to be pushing inflation.”
Roschelle went on to note that is why he believes inflation will stick around for “a while.”
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“In fact, not only will be a midterm election issue, it’s possible that once the potential presidential candidates hit the trails, start going to Iowa and New Hampshire, it’s probably going to be an issue then as well,” he continued.