This is a "lose lose" situation, if the numbers are weak? The market will interpret it as if the recovery is over? Inflation is not very brisk, the market will be happy if inflation got to 2.5% YOY, we are far from that. Little inflation means pricing power for corporate America, something they have not had for quite some time. There is some inflation in raw materials, but that is artificial and due to, IMTO, temporary imbalances, at the current prices of basic materials, ample capacity can reopen to stop the ascent of prices. If I remember correctly, there is close to 40% additional Al capacity, shut down for now, similar numbers for other basic materials. As long as overcapacity is not absorbed and real supply bottlenecks develop, inflation is not a serious threat, maybe two years down the road? In the form of "Stagflation"? Maybe someone here from the Northwest can tell us how much of Alcoa plants are still sitting idle because it is more profitable for them to sell their "allocated" cheap hydropower than to use it to smelt aluminum (completely an electrolytic process, power hungry).
