Financial Times mockingly ‘apologizes’ to CNBC’s Jim Cramer in feud over inflation

CNBC personality Jim Cramer lashed out at the Financial Times on Wednesday in a bizarre spat over the latest US inflation reading for July.

The feud emerged shortly after the Labor Department revealed that consumer prices jumped by 8.5% last month, a slight downtick compared to June.

The FT’s “Alphaville” blog had previously mocked Cramer for suggesting the US had hit peak inflation, writing in a July 13 post that his prediction “leads us to worry that it hasn’t.”

When the latest numbers crossed, Cramer immediately demanded that the FT apologize for its past mockery.

“Waiting for the Financial Times to apologize for trashing me when i said we have peak inflation,” Cramer tweeted. “I think their insulting words actually are NOT funny.”

Within hours of Cramer’s tweet, the “Alphaville” blog responded with a post entitled “Jim Cramer: An Apology” that probably wasn’t quite what the CNBC anchor had in mind.

“In a previous Alphaville post we may have implied that Jim Cramer’s peak-inflation call was a reverse indicator for our readers. We regret the error. It was not our intention to give Cramer’s opinions any credence whatsoever,” the outlet quipped.

“Today we learned that US consumer prices rose 8.5 per cent in July from last year. That is, manifestly, lower than the 9.1-per-cent reading from June,” the post added.

“Based on this single data point, and having now accepted that the core measure of CPI is likely to prove more transient than a CNBC presenter’s umbrage, we pledge to never again try to predict “peak Jim Cramer.”

The Post has reached out to CNBC for comment on the situation. Cramer has yet to respond to the latest dig.

Consumer prices were unchanged month-to-month as declines in gas prices offset higher food and shelter costs. But the downtick in the Consumer Price Index’s 12-month headline number eased pressure on the Federal Reserve and invigorated investors wary of lingering inflation.

Cramer’s takes on inflation previously drew the ire of HBO’s John Oliver, who took the CNBC host to task last month over his previous flip-flop on the best way to respond to inflation.

“He went from loudly unconcerned about rising prices to full-blown ‘inflationista’ in a matter of months,” Oliver said after airing clips of Cramer’s changing view on the situation.