But Scott Page, an industry pioneer and chief executive of the Lifeline Program, a life-settlement firm, admits that it is a business full of "headline risk".

Lastly, on Wednesday the Daily Mail ran with the scare headline "Swimming too often in chlorinated water 'could increase risk of developing bladder cancer', claim scientists".

He noted the risk that inflation expectations could rise and that sustained high headline inflation - pushed up by energy prices - could unsettle those expectations.