Not if or when but how fast?

That the U.S. Federal Reserve will hike rates this year is a no brainer, surely? So the key question then is how fast will it tighten policy given uncomfortably high inflation.

When the hawks sing

All it took was the minutes of a three-week old U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting to change the mood music in global markets. The Fed’s December meeting minutes showed officials had discussed shrinking the U.S. central bank’s overall asset holdings as well as raising interest rates sooner than expected to fight inflation. read more That sent global markets in a tailspin with investors heading for the exits.