Dec’s Consumer Price Index was up 2.9% from a year ago. Food away from home (+3.6%) and shelter (+4.6) were two of the larger year-over-year increases. On a monthly basis, gas prices in Dec were 4.4% higher than Nov, but still 3.4% below a year ago. The slight uptick in inflation comes on the heels of a robust jobs report.

Avian flu appears to be rampant this winter. From a state of emergency in California (before the fires), to a reemergence in the Midwest in December, to new east coast outbreaks in North Carolina and Delaware, every flyway in the country is transporting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or HPAI via wild bird migration. The egg industry is by far the most affected.

In its quarterly report on 12/23/24, the USDA said that total U.S. inventories of hogs & pigs on Dec 1st (75.8M head) were 0.5% above a year ago. Market-ready hogs were also up 0.5% and the breeding herd was marginally (0.1%) higher. The number of pigs per liter for the Sep-Nov quarter were record-high at 11.92, up 2.3% from a year earlier.

‘Twas the night after Christmas, and down at Mar-a-Lago, the Donald was scarfing Big Macs and gelato. Vendettas were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that indictments soon would be there. When up on the roof there was such a clatter, he sent Elon up to see what was the matter.