US Inflation Outpaces Wages; Bernstein Backs Figure (FIGR)

U.S. consumer prices rose 3.8% year-over-year in April, outpacing 3.6% average wage growth for the same period, the latest Consumer Price Index data show. Food prices increased 0.5% for the month, and average U.S. gasoline prices stood near $4.50 a gallon, up from about $3.14 a year earlier. President Trump proposed a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax to provide relief at the pump.

Analysts attribute part of the rise in energy and food costs to higher oil prices linked to the Iran conflict. Supply disruptions have pushed up prices for chemical feedstocks used in plastics and manufacturing, adding pressure to goods beyond direct fuel costs. The administration has postponed plans to suspend beef import tariffs that had been discussed as a way to ease grocery prices.

Global markets moved in response to the inflation print and the energy shock. The Bank of Japan indicated policymakers were prepared to raise rates as early as June, with at least one official citing the oil shock as justification. Long-term government yields in the U.K. climbed to levels not seen since 1998. The S&P 500 remained positive year-to-date, up about 8.3%.

In a client note, Bernstein said tokenization platforms can sidestep broader macro repricing and reiterated a $67 price target on Figure Technology Solutions, implying roughly 72% upside from current levels. Bernstein flagged strong first-quarter activity on Figure’s platform, reporting tokenization volume up 113% year-over-year to $2.9 billion in Q1 and robust origination on its blockchain-based loan marketplace.

Figure executive Michael Tannenbaum posted on social media: “We’re a Rule of 140 company, which I am proud of because it captures our ability to scale rapidly but also very efficiently. Our blockchain loan marketplace started the year with record origination volume, our DeFi ecosystem is growing fast, and…”

Bernstein’s note describes tokenization as a process that converts loans or other financial assets into digital tokens on a blockchain, a structure the firm says can reduce intermediary costs and respond faster to changing funding conditions than traditional finance. Whether those structural features hold if inflation becomes persistent in housing, services and other core areas remains uncertain.

The Consumer Price Index measures the change in prices of a basket of goods and services used by the Federal Reserve to assess inflation trends. Tokenization refers to converting financial assets into digital tokens to enable trading or securitization on distributed ledgers; proponents point to potential gains in transparency and transaction efficiency.