Wall Street stock and bond prices climbed on Wednesday despite data confirming a surge in inflation and the Federal Reserve publishing further details on its plans to begin easing asset purchases.
Headline US consumer prices rose 5.4 per cent year on year in September, marking the fifth consecutive month of annual increases of 5 per cent or more. The figure was slightly ahead of most economists’ forecasts, but had little immediate effect on US stocks after investors had spent much of the past few weeks positioning themselves for a likely increase.
Persistent inflation has increased confidence that the US central bank will begin tapering its pandemic-era stimulus measures as early as next month. Minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee provided further support on Wednesday, showing that there was a growing consensus among top officials to begin tapering “soon”.