The global economy can now be characterised as one in which many central bankers are poised to hike rates more forcefully, even as growth prospects are being revised lower. Investors are now having to ask which economies can best withstand these tighter monetary conditions and which currency to back? During this summer of discontent the answer to these questions largely remains the US economy and the dollar. Unlike the supply-driven inflation suffered in Europe, price rises in the US are far more a function of demand-side factors and suggest stagflation is less of a likelihood in the US than in Europe. And with no ... (full story)