It seems odd that such contrasting views on what's going to happen can come up from looking at two different sets of numbers. How have we ended up in this situation where there is that divergence? That is a very good question. I think you can make the case that investors are looking for a reason to be optimistic. This year was really, really bad and there's a kind of general hope that we won't have the same thing again. And Jerome Powell does not want to be known as that guy. So his incentive and indeed the incentives really of all central bankers are to really, really, really be certain that inflation is down before they are willing to say that the war has been won
Markets seem to think the worst is over; central bankers are not so sure. We ask why determining the trajectory of inflation is so difficult. Millions of refugees have poured out of Ukraine since the war began; their uncertain futures make setting up home tricky—for them and their host countries’ governments. And how technology is transforming the sport of ice fishing.
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