Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

S&P profits soar as companies pass inflation on to customers
The Associated Press ^ | August 12, 2021 | By STAN CHOE

Posted on 08/12/2021 7:00:36 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

NEW YORK — How to cope with the higher inflation sweeping the economy? For Corporate America, the answer so far is simple: Raise prices.

Companies are charging more for everything from diapers to auto parts, more than covering their own higher costs. They’ve been so successful that analysts say big U.S. companies’ profit margins have never been higher.

As a result, quarterly profit reports from S&P 500 companies the last few weeks have blown past Wall Street’s expectations. That’s helping to support record high stock prices despite worries that valuations have shot too high and that the delta variant of the coronavirus could hurt the economy.

Consider meat producer Tyson Foods, which has had to contend with higher costs for grain to feed its chickens and other sources of inflation. Yet its profit still leaped 42% in its latest quarter over the prior year.

Executives are talking more often about having to raise pay for their workers, rather than just higher prices for commodities. That kind of inflation can be more difficult for companies to mitigate.

Mentions of labor-related inflation jumped 107% for the second quarter from a year earlier, according to BofA Global Research, which analyzed conference calls that CEOs conducted with analysts following their earnings reports. That was a big jump from the prior quarter’s 12% rise.

That may also be a reason why analysts are forecasting a slight squeeze on corporate profit margins during the second half of the year.

No one expects companies to keep doubling their profits. This past quarter was likely the easiest of the recovery to deliver such eye-popping year-over-year growth, because it came 12 months after the worst of the COVID-19 economic shutdowns.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; inflation; sandp; socialism; spending; stockmarket
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

1 posted on 08/12/2021 7:00:36 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

They won’t soar for long.

Wages aren’t rising at the same rate as prices.


2 posted on 08/12/2021 7:01:27 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Yeah—That’s the way it works.

Same with taxes.

Try reading Thomas Sowell.


3 posted on 08/12/2021 7:03:03 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Hey, Rocky--Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

This is a different America. These Americans are entitled to low prices and high wages. If this keeps up, they’ll riot so they can steal that TV they want. And they’ll vote for different Democrats!


4 posted on 08/12/2021 7:04:41 AM PDT by brownsfan (For conservatives, we have taxation without representation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Unexpected.


5 posted on 08/12/2021 7:06:30 AM PDT by Huskrrrr (Alinsky, you magnificent Bastard, I read your book!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

One of my mutual funds last year made 57% Glad I saved all those years when I was young while my friends bought new boats, cars and toys


6 posted on 08/12/2021 7:07:13 AM PDT by setter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Opened a new package of Oreo’s last week. Inside 8 or 10 cookies were missing. That is inflation of the worst kind.


7 posted on 08/12/2021 7:09:16 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ImJustAnotherOkie
I call that "Toblerone inflation":


8 posted on 08/12/2021 7:12:46 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Arm_Bears

Isn’t that the saddest part. He’s been explaining this ad nauseum for decades. The man is amazing and has a way of explaining all of it in the easiest of terms.

These clowns like AOC, the rest of the Squad and Sanders are so dumb it makes me cringe. They’re supposedly so smart but they and their socialist, liberal hipster minions don’t have the slightest idea of how the tax code works and how those 70,000+ pages only help companies and the uber wealthy avoid paying them altogether.

And sadly, even if you were to sit a roomful of them down and explain to them how Amazon, GE, and so many other companies don’t pay a dime in taxes, they still wouldn’t understand/accept it and they’d demand they all pay more.

Same would go if you sat them down and explained to them how guys like Buffett and all those super, high net worth folks live their lives. They’d get mad, demand that they pay more, but still wouldn’t have the most basic understanding of how and why these folks do what they do.


9 posted on 08/12/2021 7:13:45 AM PDT by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’m positive that the executives at large companies are all taking a cut in pay to help the customer.


10 posted on 08/12/2021 7:16:15 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Inflation - the most insidious tax of all, hitting the poor and middle class, those least able to afford it, in a most disproportionally onerous manner.

Sure, wages will EVENTUALLY rise, but never in enough volume to offset the cost to the consumer.

See my tagline.


11 posted on 08/12/2021 7:16:18 AM PDT by alloysteel ( Poor people give rich people all their money anyway. Just as they have always done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
Part of the beauty of inflation - from a sinister, liberal politician's viewpoint - is that it eats away the wealth of people that earned and saved their money. These working people are the enemies of liberals.

Inflation also hurts the allies of liberals but this can be masked by printing counterfeit money and helicoptering it out into certain zip codes.

12 posted on 08/12/2021 7:19:13 AM PDT by jeffersondem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

*


13 posted on 08/12/2021 7:21:30 AM PDT by PMAS (Vote with your wallets, there are 80 million of us - No Amazon, No Chy-Na made )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

“How to cope with the higher inflation sweeping the economy? For Corporate America, the answer so far is simple: Raise prices.”

Those wise sages at the Associated Press; you can’t put one past them. They’re just too sharp. Love that “so far” in there. So, inflation is the fault of Corporate America?


14 posted on 08/12/2021 7:21:45 AM PDT by cdcdawg (#clotshots)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Wages are rising. But not for the right reasons. This is the obvious path for the “corporations” will take whenever a barrier to their profits is present. Be it… inflation or taxes… aka their ”fair share”


15 posted on 08/12/2021 7:22:03 AM PDT by MrRelevant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6

I’m positive that the executives at large companies are all taking a cut in pay to help the customer.

________________________________________________

The Left still loves all the Big Tech CEOs that are harrassing conservatives. Inflation is a small price to pay for that.


16 posted on 08/12/2021 7:23:06 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: setter

“One of my mutual funds last year made 57% Glad I saved all those years when I was young while my friends bought new boats, cars and toys”

For investors inflation is not necessarily bad news especially if one has a diversified portfolio.


17 posted on 08/12/2021 7:30:45 AM PDT by billyboy15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: cdcdawg
inflation is the fault of Corporate America?

This is stage two of the "inflation game".

Step 1 is denial.

Step 2 is blame the "greedy".

In case you are wondering, step three is price controls and step four is rationing....
18 posted on 08/12/2021 7:30:58 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

I suppose the left wing morons will blame the retail businesses for raising prices while excusing the government as*holes for printing worthless dollars to fund their vote buying giveaways.


19 posted on 08/12/2021 7:32:48 AM PDT by billyboy15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

He said it the other day. “The Biden plan is working.”

He’s right, but not the way he thinks he is.


20 posted on 08/12/2021 7:33:22 AM PDT by Nathan _in_Arkansas (Shut the deuce up!!! I'll do the fighting!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson