The annual rate of US consumer inflation halved from nearly 3% in the period from July 2018 to February 2019, before it quickly increased back to 2%. However, “headline” inflation is known to be volatile and so the reference is often made to “core” inflation figures. This measure has mostly ranged between 2.00% and 2.30% in recent years, although its long term (since 1958) median has been 2.8%. The latest...