The great rate debate: Taking central bankers at their word

Vaccination sea change

The investing world has been aflutter as it digests the possibility of renewed inflation. Some consider this a paradigm shift in markets, which for years have experienced anaemic levels of price rises.

Indeed, for most of the period since the Great Financial Crisis, the spectre of deflation has been the overarching concern for major central banks. Inflation is not a small matter and is potentially huge risk to markets. On the horizon lies a post-vaccination world, a surge in economic activity and inflation that may likely result. This potential sea change has several supports: • While neither quantitative easing (QE) nor deficit spending are novel, the sheer scale of the programmes today certainly is. Most notably, the newly elected Biden administration in the US has pushed throu...