Chart of the Day

While the Asian economic boom has pushed up commodity prices, those increases have yet to translate across the board since low cost Asian labor in conjunction with artificially low Asian currency exchange rates have made it difficult for US workers to compete. A low capacity utilization rate suggests that labor is not yet in a strong position to demand higher wages and when it comes to inflation, labor costs tend to play a more significant role than commodities. Today's chart illustrates that a below average capacity utilization rate has tended to coincide with a declining core inflation rate