‘U.S. price-rise is a story of overheating’
European stock indices fell on Friday and the U.S. 10-year yield held close to 2% after red-hot U.S. inflation led investors to expect tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.
U.S. consumer prices rose 7.5% last month, the biggest annual increase in 40 years, data showed on Thursday. The news fuelled speculation that the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points in March, rather than 25.
Wall Street stocks fell after the data and the weakness continued through the Asian and European sessions on Friday. Europe’s STOXX 600 was down 0.9%.
“Real inflation is not under control,” said Matteo Cominetta, senior economist at Barings Investment Institute. “It’s a story of overheating, plain and simple,” Mr. Cominetta added.
“You have all these cost-push factors on one side and then you’ve got booming demand hitting this constrained supply — it’s very hard to see how inflation could slow down anytime soon in the U.S.,” he said.