We continue our special series on inflation speaking with Nuveen’s chief investment strategist, Brian Nick.

Brian, there’s a lot of attention being paid by markets to inflation risk. Is this warranted?

“Prices of certain goods and services in the U.S. are rising for a variety of reasons, all of which we believe to be transitory. The main takeaway from April’s CPI report was that inflation is going to peak at a higher level this year than we thought. But the details confirm our long-held belief that this “bump” could be over before the end of the summer.

“We should focus on core prices, because the headline number is distorted by the fact that energy prices were extremely low a year ago, even negative in some cases, if you recall. But even setting that aside, last month’s 0.9% rise in core consumer prices is a very high number. And, as a matter of fact, despite some panic gas buying in the Southeast recently because of a pipeline shutdown, energy prices actually did not affect April inflation one way or the other.