Will 2021 hold one last deflation scare?

With many looking ahead to a world of high inflation, John Stepek looks at a couple of potential scenarios that could give the world one last deflationary fright.

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel © ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
Will Germany end up bailing out France?
(Image credit: Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel © ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

At this time of year my inbox is flooded with predictions for the year ahead. Today, I thought I'd pull out some of the more interesting ones to share with you.

We all know that predicting the future is impossible. Or if you didn't, then I'm pretty sure 2020 might have taught you a thing or two. But it's certainly worth thinking about whether there are any outcomes that could spring nasty surprises or present intriguing opportunities – just in case.

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.