[They also focus on two areas - healthcare and energy - where inflation is eating away at spending power.] You either need wages to pick up or inflation to slow down, ... There may be a bit of both in coming months.

These losses may reflect the fact that consumers facing higher energy prices and falling real [inflation-adjusted] wages are cutting back on discretionary spending.

We expect the Fed to focus on the risks to higher inflation caused by higher energy prices, supply-chain disruptions and the strain on resources resulting from the massive rescue, relief and rebuilding effort now underway.

Inflation is down to 1.4% excluding energy, so there's absolutely no inflation pressure.

As we went into December and energy was in that hyper-inflation stage, we looked at measures to cut down the costs.

have been beating the drums about worrying about higher inflation, and so far, other than energy, we haven't had higher inflation. (But) I would say earnings are doing quite well, so I think that's helped to keep the market from having another bad week.