As rehearsed here many times, inflation, and mainly the US version, is the key to a revival in the fortunes of your and all of our investments. For responsible countries wanting to tame it, increasing interest rates remains the principal tool. And I guess the fact that those countries which have bucked that conventional wisdom (Turkey, Argentina and others) in pursuit of populism, have ended up with 100% or more shows its importance. Interest rates up, share and bond prices down to ‘increase yields’, the percentage return on your investment; same with house prices, certainly in the rental market. Even if they’re not going to increase rates again, the Bank of England and its international brethren have to hang tough to stop us getting too happy too soon. But it will all turn around; and when it does, it will happen surprisingly quickly.
“Do not expect America’s interest rates to fall just yet”
As rehearsed many times on these pages, the next move onwards and upwards for your investments depends largely on the decisions of various bankers and economists in what would once have been ‘smoke-filled rooms’.