U.S. Price Surge, Black Workers in DC, Caribbean Taxes: Eco Day

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Welcome to Wednesday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• Americans are enjoying outsized pay boosts this year from desperate employers, but the raises are failing to keep pace with surging prices for everyday goods
  • Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said the better-than-expected performance of the U.S. economy warrants scaling back asset purchases sooner than expected and he favors starting with mortgage backed securities
  • With the CPI surging in May at the fastest rate since 2008, the transitory inflation thesis is undergoing a stress-test. To see a sustained increase, we’d need to see wage pressure rising too, according to Bloomberg Economics
• Washington DC is enjoying a strong economic rebound, good news for a city where the population of Black and White residents is about evenly split. The District of Colombia is seeing some the lowest unemployment rates among major metropolitan areas for both racial groups, according to an analysis by Bloomberg
• A gauge of applications to purchase homes in the U.S. fell last week to its lowest level in more than a year, adding to evidence that lean inventory and soaring prices are weighing on the housing market
• The slump in tourism caused by Covid-19 is much worse than expected and may cost the global economy more than $4 trillion for 2020 and 2021
• As some of the world’s largest economies mull plans to adopt a global minimum corporate tax, few places may suffer as much as the palm-fringed tax havens in the Caribbean
• The private equity industry is deploying politically directed advertisements in what could be a last stand to protect a valuable U.S. tax break that Democrats have targeted for elimination this year
• Working women in the U.K. are under pressure juggling childcare and work as Covid-19 cases force 1 in 20 children to stay home from school
• Euro-zone inflation cooled in June to temporarily ease concerns that the bloc’s economic reopening will fuel price growth, though economists expect the pressures to gather pace again in the second half of the year
• China’s efforts to prevent rampant commodities prices from derailing growth look to be paying off after readings of industrial activity showed the nation’s economic recovery extending into June

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