Wall Street Veteran Watches Commodities’ Seven C’s for Clues to What’s Next

Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, giving you investing food for thought from our conversations on Bloomberg Television with some of the best minds on Global Wall Street. I’m David Westin, and this week we talked with Peter Borish of Computer Trading about what commodities signal about inflation, Wes Edens of Brightline about his plans for high-speed US rail and Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson about running a major cultural institution. If you’re not yet a subscriber, sign up here for this newsletter and for daily markets analysis from Bloomberg Surveillance.

Global Wall Street was focused on inflation again this week, particularly after economic data pointing to more inflation than we thought and lower growth. Peter Borish of Computer Trading thinks the Fed is boxed in by rising prices (including for commodities) and a potentially weak consumer. He keeps a close eye on the prices of the “seven C’s”: cattle, coffee, corn, copper, crude, cotton and cocoa. And though he notes that the S&P 500 averages a 10% drop each year, he’s mindful of the old adage about “the 6-foot man that drowns in water an average height of 5 feet.”

With a potential breakout on tap for seasonal commodities like cattle and corn, he is watching an “eighth C” on his list: the consumer.