Central Banks’ Pain Trade

Central Banks’ Pain Trade

Hello. Today we look at global central banks’ fight against inflation, how consumers are holding up and a snapshot of food prices.

The path to a soft landing is closing fast for the world’s central banks.

As Rich Miller reports here, the Federal Reserve and peers are determined to win the fight against soaring prices, even as the growth outlook falters.

All told, about 90 central banks have raised interest rates this year, and half of them have hiked by at least 75 basis points in one shot. That’s the broadest tightening of monetary policy for 15 years — a decisive departure from the cheap-money era ushered in by the 2008 financial crisis.

And the Fed is set to pile on the pain again this week, with officials leaning toward another 75 basis-point hike, Craig Torres reports here. In what passes as good news these days, that would almost be a relief as some market players had feared a 100 basis-point increase was looming.

Anna Wong, chief US economist at Bloomberg Economics, estimates that the Fed will eventually have to take its benchmark rate to 5%, double today's level — a dose of further tightening that could cost the economy 3.5 million jobs and deal