The Christmas CPI Party That Wasn’t

Regardless of how things turned out on Wall Street Friday, risk sentiment was plainly on the back foot again in the latter half of the week, as markets grappled with the prospect of more rate hikes and central bank forecasts which suggested humbled policymakers now harbor reservations about the timeline for inflation's assumed return to target. The concern, in short, is that central banks have now belatedly come to terms with something markets realized nearly a year ago -- namely, that inflatio