The latest figures confirm the pick-up in US inflation over the past few months, with the Fed signalling that interest rates are likely to stay high for longer amid more policy-makers questioning whether the neutral policy rate has risen from pre-COVID levels. Ahead of the Fed meeting on interest rates on 30 April-1 May, markets and policy-makers have been on something of a rollercoaster, with Thursday's national accounts showing greater price pressures than had been expected in Q1, in that the Fed’s preferred core PCE deflator increased by an annualised 3.7% in the quarter ahead of the release of the March inflation ... (full story)