Economists around the world have been attributing the rise in costs of services and inflation in a number of countries to Taylor Swift’s worldwide Eras tour. However, Swift herself can't be held fully responsible for some of the shifts in consumer spending habits that are influencing the prices of goods and services. There are many other macro and micro forces at play in driving spending behavior and inflation trends around the world. Tom Becker and Kate Moore are senior investors at BlackRock with decades of global macro and thematic investing experience between them. They join Oscar to discuss the changes in consumer spending behavior, the future path of interest rates, and what signs investors should be on the lookout for in the latter half of 2024.

Sources: 2024 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, Federal Reserve July 2024; Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI data 2022; “Europe has a Taylor Swift Problem: Eras Tour sparks inflation jitters” Axios July 2024; “U.K. Inflation Steady as Economists Puzzle Over ‘Taylor Swift Effects’ NYT, August 2024

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190: A Cruel Inflation Summer? BlackRock's Version