After years of moribund price increases, inflation is back and it is set to alter monetary policy and currency markets much faster than everyone expects, an investment manager told CNBC Friday.
Recent data releases have spooked equity markets on fears that the Federal Reserve could move faster to tighten its monetary policy after years of stimulus. About a week ago, U.S. markets entered correction territory — after dropping more than 10 percent — following stronger than expected jobs data and wage growth. On Wednesday, the U.S. consumer price index came in at 2.1 percent — well above expectations.
"In the U.S., the Fed has to change (monetary policy) now that inflation is taking off," Giles Keating, managing director at wealth management firm Werthstein Institute, told CNBC Friday morning.