"If companies could share inflation-proofing on benefits, that would allow around 30% of costs to be shared," he said.
Share prices, inflation rates and bond yields are all falling (see Buttonwood); the oil price is slumping; China is battling a debt problem (see article).
The strength of the dollar affects trade balances, capital flows, growth rates, profits, share prices, inflation rates, interest rates and even the relative size of economies.
More than a third of his $36 billion in assets under management, including most of his personal investments, are denominated in gold-linked shares, an inflation hedge, which were up 30%-plus.
Investors who want to wring more cash out of their portfolios have to either sell shares, buy inflation-sensitive bonds or copy the strategy used by the Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund.
Unlike in the United States and in countries that share the euro, inflation in Britain never came close to zero in 2009.
In turn, this cheap money fuelled a bubble in property and share prices.If local inflation remains higher than that of the country to which the currency is pegged, the currencies of countries with currency boards can also become overvalued and uncompetitive.
For one thing, as my colleague notes, the good October jobs numbers were no doubt boosted by anticipation of the Fed's new easing programme, which has been lifting share prices and inflation expectations and reducing interest rates and the dollar since late August.
"We again delivered on our commitments for growth in sales, adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share even though inflation has continued to put pressure on our margins," said Kimberly-Clark Chief Executive Thomas J. Falk Thomas J. Falk.
