Risk: Inflation is by far the No. 1 economic concern going into 2022. Many are worried about a period of escalating prices, and don't trust what they're hearing from mainstream economists and central bank officials. At the start of 2021, the U.S. was forecast to end the year with 2% inflation, but it is close to 7% instead. Fed Chair Jay Powell has subsequently backtracked on his "transitory" thesis, with the term endangering a delayed reaction to the current price environment. World's central banks are taking different approaches to inflation.
"I think the biggest risk is that expectations about inflation will continue to rise and the more they rise, the more difficult those expectations are to manage," said Gad Levanon, head of the Conference Board’s Labor Markets Institute. "It was a hard-earned accomplishment for the Fed to able to anchor inflation expectations, and they are at risk of losing it."
Opportunity: Inflation has been a symptom of easy money policies, but more importantly, due to supply bottlenecks and increased consumer spending. If those factors were to ease, much of those fears could dissipate. The Fed could also pull off a delicate balancing act, where both growth and inflation decelerate, but not so much that the economic expansion is put in jeopardy.
"I do think that we'll see a gradual slowing in inflation throughout 2022," said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. "After a big run-up in energy prices, they’re going to stabilize or come down next year. I do think that a lot of the higher price pressures from the reopening of the economy are going to fade, things like airfares, hotel rooms and new and used cars." Inflation nation: Are price pressures here for the long term?
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