Elusive for decades, inflation is now hard to miss across the global economy. Percentage price rises run to double digits in Europe. Even where they are more restrained, in the United States, say, or Australia and New Zealand, official data regularly print multi-decade highs. Moreover, they come in at multiples of what most investors used to think the norm.
The reasons behind this cost-of-living shock are threefold. First comes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Knock-on effects in regional food and energy markets largely account for Europe’s disproportionate inflation hit, but the effects can be seen worldwide.
