11/21/24 Afternoon CommStock Report –

Part 3 of 3-part series The Wall Cloud   Perception is reality and whatever perception that US consumers have of inflation it is of the worst kind. Earlier this year, I was checking into a hotel in Omaha, or trying to. The clerk was enthralled in conversation with others checking in before me, where they were all comparing notes on their extreme displeasure of gas prices having just shot up. There had been a fast and furious 40 cents gallon increase for whatever reason and they were stung by it. It sounded like it was the most important thing that had just happened to them and they were not getting over it. Gas prices did not trend much further higher and later fell back but they were not going to forget this. Gas Prices were thought of as too high and that was stuck in their consciousness like a pig in a bog. If they were asked in a survey that day whether the country was on the right or wrong track, they would have been explicit in picking it to be “wrong”. Price inflation turned out to be the most telling factor in the 2024 election. I am sure…