Prices of common goods are not going up very much, but should we celebrate?

The answer to this inquiry is: not exactly. Inflation that is too low could be a terrible sign for the United States economy, and some officials within the United States Federal Reserve are starting to get concerned.

Talking with reporters on Wednesday, St. Louis Fed President Mr. James Bullard looked to the Fed’s favored measure of inflation—amount of personal consumption expenditures, minus energy and food—which has recently revealed that prices rose up 1.3 percent over one year ago.

“This figure is pretty low,” Bullard said at a Levy Economics Institute meeting. “I am getting concerned about this figure, and I think that provides the F.O.M.C with room to work-out its monetary policy.”

The Federal Reserve typically aims to keep inflation around 2 percent per year; inflation at this level is deemed healthy as it coincides with legitimate economic growth, a growing labor market and gradually rising wage rates.

“the history of our economy has shown that our markets perform best with slightly higher levels of inflations such as 2.5 or 3 percent,” said Bernard Baumohl, the chief global economist for the Economic Outlook Group. “Dormant or low inflation translates into a stagnant economy.”

There are a few key reasons as to why low inflation is a bad economic indicator. First, when companies do not have any leeway to raise price, they are more apt to cut costs, which would mean a reduction in their workforce or a cutback in hiring. Second, if inflation remains low, consumers are not as motivated to spend. Third, when inflation is low or dormant, it does not offer a considerable buffer against deflation if an economic event takes place. And lastly, low inflation often comes along with lower revenue growth and wages.

The Federal Reserve has kept its short-term interest rate close to zero since 2008. When this rate was not enough to boost the economy, it launched several bond-buying sprees in an attempt to lower long-term interest rates. The Fed is now operating its third round of asset purchases, buying over $85 billion in mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries each month. This program remains highly controversial, and many are speculating about when the Fed will start to ease its bond purchasing habits.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former employee at a Connecticut brokerage firm with scheming to profit from placing unauthorized orders to purchase Apple stock. When the ploy backfired, it ultimately caused the firm to cease operations.

David Miller, an institutional sales trader, has agreed to a partial settlement of the SEC’s charges. Moreover, Mr. Miller pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Miller misrepresented to Rochdale Securities that a customer had agreed to the Apple order and assumed the risk of loss on the resulting trades. The customer order was to buy 1,625 shares of Apple, but Miller instead entered a number of orders totaling 1.625 million shares at a cost of nearly $1 billion. Miller was hoping to share in the customer’s profit if the trade proved to be profitable, and if the stock price dropped he would claim that he made an error on the size of the order. The shares of Apple would up decreasing after a poor earnings announcement later that day, and Rochdale was forced to halt operations in the wake of covering the losses suffered from the illicit trades.

“Miller’s scheme was brazen, deliberate, and ultimately poorly-conceived,” said Daniel Hawke, the Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. “This is an alert and a wake-up call to the brokerage industry that unchecked conduct of even a single person in a position of trust can pose a tremendous risk on a firm and potentially to the broader markets.”

The complaint filed by the United States Securities Commission charged Miller with violations of Section 17 and 3 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. To settle these charges, Miller will be prohibited in SEC administrative proceedings from working in the securities industry or participating in any dealings or offerings of penny stocks. In the partial in-court settlement, Miller agreed to be enjoined from future violations of antifraud provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. Moreover, a financial penalty will be assessed at a later date by the court system upon the SEC’s motion.

Source; United States Securities and Exchange Commission www.sec.gov