What level of inflation do people expect over the next several years? We could look at some surveys to try to answer this question, but nothing beats market measures where participants have some skin in the game. One such method of measuring inflation expectations is to compare how Treasury markets price two types of bonds: “normal” bonds—with a constant nominal interest rate—and “inflation-indexed” bonds—with a yield that includes realized inflation. One can tease out inflation expectations by subtracting the real bond yield from the nominal yield. This is the so-called break-even inflation that we show in the graph above for all available maturities.
The graph shows that these expected inflation rates fan out at particular times, typically downward. And, every time, the shorter maturities seem to have the strongest reactions. This is simple arithmetic. For example, a 10-year expectation also contains the 5-year expectation; and, as long as expectations average out in the long run, the shorter-term expectation will be more variable. An exception would occur if the market expects “normal” inflation in the next five years, but “abnormal” inflation during the five years thereafter. That’s very unlikely to happen, at least in terms of expectations.
How this graph was created: Search for “break-even inflation,” select the series, and click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, open the “Format” tab and move the series up or down to order them chronologically in the legend.
Back in the day, banks offered Christmas savings accounts, which allowed folks to regularly set aside some funds that would become available in time for Christmas purchases. The scheme is similar to certain types of education savings or retirement savings accounts that encourage saving for a particular purpose and impose penalties when one deviates from the goal (like withdrawing money early). These Christmas accounts have disappeared, as they were costly to banks and credit cards have clearly become popular substitutes.
FRED has some data on these Christmas savings accounts. The data points are a bit scattered throughout the years, though, much like ornaments on a tree. Along with the bright colors, this makes for quite a display! But each year has data points for June and December (at least), so we can see how the account holdings increase linearly throughout the year and reset at Christmas.
How this graph was created: Search for “Christmas savings,” select the series, and click “Add to Graph.” Then go to “Edit Graph”/”Format” to use FRED’s new palette, which lets you customize graphs with all your favorite festive colors.
The graph above shows how much Americans are driving. Because there’s a very strong seasonal pattern, which spikes in the summer, we use this 12-month “moving” series to achieve a smoother line. (Just one of the many options in FRED that helps you choose how to display the data!) We see that mileage has steadily increased over the years, with three exceptions in this sample period: Two were the massive gas price hikes—in the 1970s and 1980s—and the third is the aftermath of the Great Recession. In fact, never has a driving slump been as long and pronounced as this recent one. Does this indicate that something has changed?
The second graph looks at the same series, but this time it’s divided by a measure of population. Now we can see that yearly miles per person peaked around June 2005 at about 13,200 and then dipped all the way down to about 12,000 in March 2014. As of August 2018, it’s a bit higher, at almost 12,500 miles. But it’s been leaning downward again and may decrease even further. Are we seeing a change in commuting and traveling habits? As always, FRED will keep compiling the data so you can stay up to speed on these trends.
How these graphs were created: For the first, search for “miles traveled,” select the moving 12-month series, and click “Add to Graph.” For the second, take the first and go to the “Edit Graph” panel: Search for and add the “civilian population” series, and then apply formula a/b*1000. (Multiplying by 1000 achieves the correct units.)
