Rock guitarist Jack White, who has extended his "Supply Chain Issues Tour” into October, might want to name his band’s next road trip after a different villain.
That’s because supply strains, while still afflicting many consumers and businesses, are becoming more mundane than menacing like they were six months ago, especially in the U.S., where snarls have eased back from their pandemic peaks and some are already adding less inflationary pressure.
Modest improvements are showing up in gauges maintained by forecasters ranging from Bloomberg Economics to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But the gradual end of the pandemic-driven supply crunch might give way to another potential headache: a slump in consumer demand that throws economic growth into reverse and leads to an ugly inventory pileup.