PRICE HIKES LURKING BEYOND PANDEMIC

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in December from November, putting them 1.4 percent above December 2019’s level, the U.S. Commerce Department reported.
Core prices – those other than food and energy – were up 0.1 percent on the month and 1.6 percent on the year. 
The COVID War and economic shutoff have boosted prices for goods such as groceries, hand sanitizer, and electronics, Wall Street Journal analyst Justin Lahart noted in a 14 January column; but the same factors have slashed prices for many services, such as hotel nights and car rentals. 
When vaccines have brought the COVID virus under control, prices for high-demand services could quickly spike, Lahart noted. 
“When everybody finally feels comfortable getting on a plane to see family, deals on flights could be hard to come by,” he wrote. 
Also, prices for merchandise “might not ease up all that much, given that” a stronger economy will see more people back and work and ready to spend on long-delayed purchases, he added.
“Price gyrations would likely be temporary, but interpreting” long-term trends from them “could be hard,” Lahart concluded.
TREND FORECAST: The U.S. Federal Reserve announced in August that it would no longer seek to hold inflation to 2 percent but could let it rise faster for brief periods without altering interest rates. 
It should be noted that inflation numbers are much higher than the government reports according to shadowstats.com, which reports annual average inflation in the U.S was 8.9 percent in 2020. 
Regarding the recently-released numbers, they noted, “December 2020 Year-to-Year Composite PPI Inflation held at 0.8% for a second month, with December Goods Inflation jumping to 1.1%, up from 0.4% in November, otherwise artificially depressed, as usual, by the mal-defined Services Sector (Bureau of Labor Statistics – BLS).”
We agree and maintain our forecast for rising inflation, which will devalue the U.S. dollar and push precious metals and bitcoin prices higher.