70s Redux: Stagflation, Trade Wars & More

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 4/20/2018 09:27:00 PM
US spars with Russia and China, oil spikes, stagflation returns...whaddya mean we're not in the 70s?
The Trump administration's combative attitude towards China and Russia make it seem as though the 70s never really went away. The Chinese stand accused of using nefarious means to enhance state capabilities--by undermining pillars of Western capitalism like technology to their own benefit. Meanwhile, the Russians are accused of engaging in all sorts of underhanded actions to destabilize countries aligned with the United States. You sure it's not 1979? While Russia is a shadow of its former Soviet self, China is set to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy on current trends by mid-century.

For more of that 1970s feel,  add in oil crisis-style price increases due to OPEC reducing production as well as geopolitical troubles in the Middle East. Israel figures large in 1973 as in 2018, as does Iran via the fall of the Shah in 1979 and the imminent US-Iran quarrel over Trump reneging on a multilateral deal over Iran's nuclear programs.

All these bring the reappearance of another bugaboo from the past which is appearing a lot in today's financial headlines: the [imminent] return of stagflation. In normal times, inflation results from having a robust economy creating demand for various goods, thus pulling up prices for these them. With stagflation, however, you have the unwanted combination of a stagnant economy and rising prices. It's essentially the difference between "demand-pull" and "cost-push" inflation.

What's pushing up prices nowadays? With regard to Russia, aluminum prices have been rising--as have those for other industrial metals--as the US has applied sanctions on Russian producer Rusal (Russia + aluminum) due to its close ties with Russia's globally meddling government. The end result has been the spike in prices:
They’ve gone crazy, jumping more than 30 percent since April 5 -- the day before the sanctions were announced -- and reaching the highest since 2011. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the metal could spike to $3,000 a metric ton, which would be almost 50 percent above the price before the curbs. And it’s not just the final metal: Alumina prices surged to a record, with at least one cargo selling for $800 a ton, almost $200 higher than the previous top price set more than a decade ago.
Trump's stated intentions to hit $150B worth of Chinese imports with 25% tariffs has folks worried about inflation Stateside emanating from a potential action of such magnitude:
US consumers would bear the brunt of the immediate damage in the form of inflation, as the prices of China-sourced consumer products and components would be expected to rise sharply. “The shelves of your average US retail outlet are filled with clothing, footwear, toys, appliances and other goods produced mainly in China,” says Mr Capri.

“US consumers would feel considerable pain from any kind of retaliatory tariff war between the two countries.” In this scenario we estimate US consumer price inflation overall to be 0.9% higher in 2017, and 1.5% higher in 2018, compared with our baseline US forecast. Private consumption growth out to 2021 would be well below that forecast in the baseline scenario.
Topping it all off are OPEC efforts to buoy oil prices combined with potential security-related supply disruptions if American-led sanctions of Iranian oil are resumed. Lisa Abramowicz of Bloomberg shares this chart showing the relation between breakeven rates on 10-year Treasuries--a measure of inflation expectations--and the price of WTI crude oil.

Bring out the disco ball and bell bottom pants from the basement; we're groovy 70s like in the financial world, too.