Is This the Beginning of the Second Wave of Inflation?

Companies can’t pass on those higher prices? What a bummer. But if they can without losing sales, it’s off to the races. See 2021/2022.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Nearly every subindex of today’s ISM Services PMI grew in February, and many accelerated further from the January pace of growth. Among those that accelerated further: The overall Services PMI and the indexes for employment, new orders, and prices.

And so, the services economy, which dominates the US economy, grew in February at a decent clip, according to the report.

The index that declined at an accelerating pace were imports. And that would be a good thing. Rising imports are a drag on GDP, and imports spiked in December and January in a historic way, according to Census Bureau data, as companies tried to front-run any tariffs to then charge higher prices amid tariff chaos for stuff they hadn’t paid any tariffs on? The profit motive at work.