Vaccines were supposed to tame the virus, allowing the global economy to safely unlock, but the emergence of new, more transmissible strains of Covid-19 has delayed that process. Inflation was supposed to stay low, weighed down by spare capacity in the economy, yet it has surprised to the upside due to a global mismatch between demand and supply propelling prices higher, and then by a spike in wholesale energy prices. And as always, decisions by politicians and policymakers proved newsworthy, with the US Federal Reserve’s June press conference and the rise of the ‘common prosperity’ regulatory agenda in China standing out as key developments that have reset investor expectations.
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