2022 Investment Themes I Have My Eye On

2022 Investment Themes I Have My Eye On

No matter how old I get, it never ceases to amaze me how much can happen in a year. Exactly 12 months ago today, inflation was running at only 1. 1%, oil was still under $50 per barrel and Bitcoin was trading at $18, 260. Virtually no one had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and even fewer people had ever heard of the word omicron – let alone that it is a letter in the Greek alphabet. Try to imagine, then, what we'll be talking about 12 months from now. No one can predict the future, of course; otherwise, we'd all be multi-billionaires. Did anyone really think inflation would be "transitory"? On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that consumer prices rose at their fastest annual pace in about 40 years. The consumer price index (CPI) increased 6. 8% year-over-year in November, the highest of such a reading since June 1982. Among the biggest contributors to higher inflation were gasoline (up 58. 1%), natural gas (25. 1%), used cars and trucks (31. 4%) and clothes (5%). But as I've said before, the official CPI reading could be understating inflation. Prices may very well have increased even more than we're