From Melbourne to Manchester to Miami, people are struggling under the weight of hefty price increases for the things they buy each day.
The worst spike in inflation that many advanced economies have seen in decades underscores the global forces driving prices higher, namely the disruptions set in motion by the coronavirus pandemic.
The average national price of regular gasoline this Christmas was almost 20 cents a gallon lower than it was a year earlier. Prices at the pump are still higher than they were during the pandemic slump, when economic shutdowns depressed world oil prices, but the affordability of fuel — as measured by the ratio of the average wage to gas prices — is most of the way back to pre-Covid levels.
A JPMorgan survey shows a record high 86% of its clients planned to raise equity exposure. It is unclear if those plans will have come unstuck after the latest spurt in oil and commodity, and galloping inflation expectations.
The bank itself is warning central banks face a stark choice --to "live with energy-driven inflation or kill off economic growth".
America is finishing the year with decades-high inflation. That doesn't bode well for 2022.
Prices have climbed so high it will take some time for them to come back down to earth. In other words, the uncomfortable inflation numbers of 2021 will likely stay with us well into the New Year.
