Free-fall Friday  This month, the central bank didn’t actually hold an official policy meeting, but instead came together for the annual Jackson Hole retreat. After months several months of v aggressive policy changes to bring down inflation, the market was ready to hear the latest updates from Chairman Powell on Friday morning. Despite several data points indicating that inflation is, in fact, peaking, Powell seemed unwavering in his path to continue jamming his foot on the brakes of the economy to bring down inflation closer to the 2% range. Moral of the story: We’ve seen reports of inflation peaking over the last few weeks, which had provided the market with…

Peaking inflation Inflation has been the biggest topic of conversation for what feels like forever and we’re finally starting to see signs of “peaking” inflation. The consumer price index, which measures the changes in the prices for a set basket of goods and services, stayed flat for the month of July, which is the first time it hasn’t increased in months. Even though prices are still meaningfully higher versus last year, we’re finally starting to see signs that they’re not continuing to rise at an astronomical pace. In even better news, prices for producers actually decreased slightly during the month, and producer prices tend to be a precursor to consumer…