Inflation Spike Begins, Europe’s Vaccines, Amazon Vote – What’s up in Markets By Investing.com – Investing.com

Inflation Spike Begins, Europe’s Vaccines, Amazon Vote – What’s up in Markets By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- The long-awaited spike in inflation rates begins, as price data for March trickle in. Europe's industrial output in March slipped alarmingly. Amazon (NASDAQ:) looks like winning its struggle to avoid unionized labor, and OPEC+ members are pumping more oil than they should. Here's what you need to know in financial markets on Friday, April 9th.

1. The inflation spike begins

March inflation data out of China confirmed the start of a widely-expected increase in prices, measured in annual terms.

Producer price inflation rose 4.4% on the year, the fastest increase since July 2018 and well ahead of expectations, while consumer price inflation rebounded to 0.4% on the year from -0.2% in February.

The rebound was due largely to base effects caused by the collapse of oil prices a year ago.  The same effects are likely to be reflected in U.S. PPI data due at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). Prices are expected to have risen 0.5% on the month and 3.8% on the year.

The Federal Reserve has said it expects to ‘look through' what it expects to be a temporary period of higher-than-usual inflation rates, focusing instead on the pace of repair in the labor market.

2. Europe's vaccination campaign