Time to dust down those inflation slide rules

Inflation differentials between countries are returning and investment analysts will reinvent the technology for weighing them. First in the balance will be the US whose assets look set to weigh light against those of Europe and Japan

Since I was a junior analyst at JP Morgan at the dawn of international investing, inflation has been on the way down everywhere. Not only did disinflation mean lower inflation in every successive period, it also meant different countries’ inflation rates converged.

Disinflation was achieved by tight monetary policy and fiscal discipline. All that is over. Now the world is moving towards lower annual growth of 3% and medium-level inflation of 3%. This 3×3 world is flanked by the dangers of rising inflation expectations on one side and deflation on the other.

Access intelligence that drives action

To unlock this research, enter your email to log in or enquire about access