Inflation is not something new for the U.S. as the nation has weathered seven such episodes of lasting price surges including the current run, since World War II.
Post-World War II and the crippling stagflationary period of the 1970s and early 1980s offer the closest parallels.
“The question is, how long it remains elevated and when it backs off and at what rate does it settle out?” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
While Fed policymakers have been slow to tighten in the present day, they have vowed that if inflation expectations become unhinged, they’ll act. The worry, though, is that the Fed is already too late.