Odd Lots Newsletter: The Tyranny of Truss Plates

Welcome to the subscriber-only Odd Lots newsletter. Every week, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway bring you their thoughts on the most interesting developments in markets, finance and economics.

Inspired by our most recent episode, this week I tried to introduce a new word into the financial lexicon: whackflation. While I don’t really expect the term to gain much traction, I think it’s a nice way of conceptualizing the relationship between supply chain issues and inflation right now.

The term’s inspired by our episode with Citigroup Strategist Matt King, who argues that the pandemic has given the finely-calibrated global economy an “almighty whack.” That’s set in motion a cascade of difficult-to-predict effects as this highly complex system struggles to right itself.