Stock analysis posts tagged "Inflation" from Openbook.

Brent's run past $100 cost the Dow 1,350 points in three sessions, drove the hottest PPI of this cycle and left a Fed rise all but priced in for Wednesday.

The AI build-out has become a macroeconomic demand shock, and it is the marginal reason the Fed is close to hiking. Investors hold AI equities as shelter from the tightening they are causing.

The FTSE 100 ended Monday to Wednesday all but flat as Brent near $92 lifted BP and Shell, while UK inflation rose to 2.9% and the FTSE 250 slipped 0.9%. Kainos and Made Tech surged on guidance upgrades; Smith & Nephew fell as its finance chief quit.

The record first half trade numbers did not test the tariff regime. The largest duties of 2026 took effect after the measurement window closed, and roughly a third of the growth was price, not goods.

Stocks and gold both rallied on the July payrolls miss, but they are pricing opposite outcomes. Gold has it right. The report said nothing about the inflation the Fed is actually fighting.