When inflation strikes, where can investors take advantage?

Oil has historically been an inflation hedge

Unemployment, growth and inflation take it in turns to be targeted by policy makers. It just depends which of the ugly ducklings is being given attention that day, writes Written by Steven Richards, associate director for fund management at Thesis Asset Management.

Inflation has, since January 2014, constantly been below the Bank of England's 2% target and indeed, on a year-on-year basis, briefly moved negative. Since then it has almost been forgotten, but with November's CPI rate reaching 1.2% and warnings that higher prices are incoming, it is worth thinking a little more about this potential return killer - especially at a time when equity and bond markets appear quite fully valued. Inflation is impacted massively by underlying commodity price movements and exchange rate fluctuations. The pound fell 9% against the dollar during June, July and...