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Topic
Inflation
26 guides in Finabase Learn
- Commodities explained: energy, metals, crops and how to own them What commodities are, how energy, metals and agricultural markets differ, the ways to get exposure, and what 20 years of DBC prices show against stocks and the CPI.
- Commodity A basic, interchangeable raw good such as oil, gold, wheat or copper, traded in bulk on spot and futures markets.
- Consumer Price Index (CPI) A monthly BLS measure of the average change in prices urban consumers pay for a basket of goods and services; the main US inflation gauge.
- Core inflation: why food and energy are left out What core inflation is, why it drops food and energy, how much monthly CPI noise it removes, and how to annualize and read core prints.
- Deflation A sustained fall in the general price level, the opposite of inflation, which can raise real debt burdens and delay spending.
- Gold and precious metals: how gold is priced and what drives it How gold trades through futures, bullion funds and coins, its 26-year price record, and how its link to real interest rates held for 17 years and then broke.
- How the economy affects stocks: growth, inflation, jobs and rates How GDP, inflation, jobs and interest rates feed into company earnings and discount rates, why stocks move before the economy does, and where the link breaks.
- Inflation A sustained rise in the general price level, which reduces the purchasing power of money over time.
- Inflation: what it is, how it’s measured and what it does to money What inflation is, what causes it, how CPI and PCE measure it, why the Fed aims for 2%, and how rising prices affect cash, bonds and stocks, with 1948–2026 data.
- Money supply and M2: what it measures and what it tells you What M1 and M2 include, how banks and the Fed change the money supply, the velocity arithmetic, and what M2 and CPI did from the 1960s through 2026.
- PCE inflation: the Fed’s preferred gauge vs the CPI What the PCE price index measures, why the Fed’s 2% goal uses it instead of the CPI, the formula, weight and scope differences, and how the two gauges compare since 2015.
- PCE price index The Commerce Department’s measure of prices for personal consumption spending, and the inflation gauge behind the Fed’s 2% target.
- Producer Price Index (PPI) The BLS monthly measure of selling prices received by US producers, watched as an early signal of inflation pressure in the supply chain.
- Producer Price Index (PPI): final demand, pipeline prices and CPI What the Producer Price Index measures, how the final demand index is built, how PPI differs from CPI, and whether producer prices lead consumer prices.
- Real interest rates: nominal rates minus inflation, explained How to compute a real interest rate, ex post versus ex ante, the real fed funds rate since 1960 and the 10-year TIPS yield, and why real rates drive markets.
- Real return An investment’s return after subtracting inflation, showing the change in actual purchasing power rather than in dollars.
- Real vs nominal GDP: deflators, chained dollars and why both matter How nominal and real GDP differ, how the GDP price deflator and chained 2017 dollars are built, a worked two-good example, and when to use each measure.
- Retail sales report: what it measures and how to read it How the Census Bureau’s monthly retail sales report is built, why it is not adjusted for inflation, the control group arithmetic, confidence intervals and revisions.
- Stagflation An economy suffering high inflation, weak or negative growth and rising unemployment at the same time, as the US did in the 1970s.
- Stagflation: high inflation, weak growth and the 1970s lesson What stagflation is, how the 1970s combined double-digit inflation with rising unemployment, why it is hard on stocks and bonds, and how to tell it apart from 2022.
- The 2022 bear market: inflation, Fed hikes and falling bonds Why stocks and bonds fell together in 2022, how the Fed’s fastest hikes in decades drove a 25% S&P 500 decline, and what SPY, QQQ and TLT data show.
- The CPI report: how BLS builds it and how to read it How the Consumer Price Index is built (basket, weights, shelter and owners’ equivalent rent), what headline and core mean, and how to read m/m and y/y changes.
- The Taylor rule: formula, worked example and Fed policy since 1990 The Taylor (1993) rule step by step, a worked 2026 calculation, how its prescription compares with the actual fed funds rate since 1990, and why it is a benchmark.
- TIPS and breakeven inflation: how inflation-protected bonds work How TIPS adjust principal for inflation, how breakeven inflation is read from TIPS and Treasury yields, and how breakevens compare with realized CPI.
- Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) US Treasury bonds whose principal rises and falls with the Consumer Price Index, so their interest and final payment keep pace with inflation.
- Wage growth: average hourly earnings, real wages and composition What average hourly earnings measure, how to turn wage growth into real wage growth, why the April 2020 spike was not a raise, and how wages tie into inflation.
Educational content, not investment advice. Finabase Learn explains how markets and tools work. It does not recommend any security or strategy, and examples are for illustration only. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Rules and figures are for the United States unless stated and can change — check the cited source before you act.