The Lowry Letter® - 5/17/2025

Memorial Day is a little more than one week away. Do you have any favorite traditions for that holiday? It marks the end of the school year for many families. We hope the school year ends smoothly if you have students in your family!

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• We thought this podcast on women’s sexual health, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy was really worth our time.
  
  
• Recent years have seen record-low participation by young men in the workforce. The reasons are complicated, ranging from government benefits to family structures.
  
  
• Tyler Cowen’s argument for leaving drug prices alone.
  
  
• The word "Budget" originates from French: The term "budget" comes from the French word "bougette," meaning a small bag, reflecting its historical use to describe a pouch for holding money.
  
  
• Spicy food may help with pain relief.

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Q: The inflation news was pretty good. Does this mean that tariffs haven’t had any impact?

A: It is too soon to know. This helps explain why the Federal Reserve didn’t adjust rates during their most recent meeting. Tariffs have been proposed and adjusted many times and we still don’t know how much of an effect the implemented policies will have.

The markets are responding  very quickly to proposals and adjustments, and since the administration has pulled back or delayed its most extreme tariffs, it is hard to measure their impact beyond the market volatility and “soft data” x`x`we mentioned in last week’s letter.

We thought this was a good insight from Mohamed El-Erian:

While good news, the numbers will have little impact on the ongoing debate on the possible inflationary impact of tariffs — between those who will interpret these numbers as illustrating no price pass-throughs to speak of, and others who will argue it’s too early to see them.

So we don’t know, but we are encouraged to see a good inflation reading!