Why all eyes will be on US inflation data this week

As the world comes out of lockdown and demand for goods and services rises, attention will shift to inflation and what it means for interest rates. This week sees a release of significant US inflation data – John Stepek explains why it’s so important.

Lael Brainard and Jerome Powell
Lael Brainard: the Fed will remain “patient”
(Image credit: © Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Happy “buy a pint and get a haircut” day to anyone who’s also in whichever parts of the UK that applies to (I’m losing track despite having friends and relatives all over). Nice to see that the weather hasn’t lost its sense of humour (for those of you lucky enough to be living in sunnier climes, it’s snowing – not quite for the first time this year but close enough to be ironic).

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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.