Surge In Energy Prices Poses Major Inflation Risk

When the first signs of inflation began to make themselves visible earlier this year, it was welcomed as a signal of strong economic recovery. Then, however, came the energy crunch, and now the two are comingling into a worrying trend. In the United States, the Labor Department reported the fastest consumer price increase since 1990 October.

The figure came in at 6.2 percent, driven higher by, among other things, higher gasoline prices. In China, prices of goods at the factory gate rose to a record high last month because of soaring energy costs.…