Consumer-price inflation in America jumps up to 4.2%
Shortages and bottlenecks imply more price rises will follow. But will they last?
AS AMERICA’S ECONOMY bounces back from the pandemic, aided by trillions of dollars of fiscal stimulus, the main question on investors’ minds is if and when inflation will take off. The Federal Reserve has vowed to tolerate a period of above-target price rises so that the economy can get back on its feet; Jerome Powell, its chairman, has said it is “not even thinking about thinking” about raising interest rates. Yet with many asset prices underpinned by rock-bottom rates, investors have been jumpy, fretting that high inflation could force the central bank’s hand.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Jump scare?”
Finance & economics May 15th 2021
From the May 15th 2021 edition
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