Unpacking the data crime in the new inflation report: a bizarre fall in housing costs, aka Owners Equivalent of Rent, which is 26% of CPI.
From naked capitalism via This RSS Feed.
In other words, BLS just made up the October data. And the September data, which was used as base for the made-up October data, was marred by the total outlier plunge of OER, which accounts for 26% of overall CPI, for 33% of core CPI, and for 44% of core services CPI. And that outlier plunge in September was carried forward to October and November. Specifically about OER: “BLS calculates rent and owners’ equivalent rent using six-month panel collection [surveys are sent to the same address every six months, instead of every month]. So there was this suspicious outlier drop in September, and rather than bouncing back, as it should have done, it was carried forward to October and November, making for one heck of a funny chart below.
