Talk of vaccines abounds. By next summer, so the theory goes, we should have herd immunity in place. While we get closer to better protecting ourselves from SARS-CoV-2, however, new financial dangers loom. One of these could be inflation.

In the UK, the Consumer Price Index inflation rate rose to 0.9 percent in October, up from 0.7 percent in September. Inflation creep is also finding its way into the euro zone. In October it sat at –0.3 percent, but there has been plenty of discussion about the ECB following the US Federal Reserve and letting inflation overshoot a 2 percent target for a while.

Across the pond, there are clear signs that the new administration will be supportive of an expansion of the money supply. Other commentators have said that inflation signals in the US have been flashing for a while. The price of gold is nearly up a third since its March lows. A leading ETF for timber and forestry is up by two-thirds over the same period. Bitcoin has experienc