Inflation is the wild card for 2006, with rising oil prices, an increase in commodity prices, slow productivity gains and rising interest rates.

Anytime you get a report that shows growth and goes against inflation, as in the productivity report we saw today, the market's going to react well to that.

Strip out higher oil prices, and Europe doesn't have an inflation problem. We're still bullish for the medium term.

A year ago some said that the doubling of oil prices would push our inflation far beyond target and that a recession was required to slow the increase in house prices.

Both [the French and the euro-zone data] reflect higher oil prices rather than any rise in underlying inflation.

The inflation-adjusted number, the finite supply of oil, and the growing demand for oil from one-third of the world's population all point to higher prices.