Stagflation risk has big investors sinking billions into hedges

BNN: 'It’s the next big market call that could enrich traders across Wall Street: The raging global energy crisis and ever-more hawkish central banks knock key economies into 1970s-style stagflation. It’s a long shot for now, but anxiety is building among money managers that this market scenario -- out-of-control inflation just as growth slumps -- will eventually come to pass, especially in Europe.

'Global growth optimism sunk to an all-time low, according to this month’s Bank of America Corp. fund manager survey. Stagflation expectations jumped to 66 per cent, the highest since 2008. U.S. price pressures rose in March by the most since late 1981, while data Wednesday showed U.K. inflation exceeded the estimates of economists for the sixth straight month.'