"The big story this year is not the US spending sequester, the China slowdown or the ongoing European recession," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Ethan Harris back in May.
"The big story is inflation, or more precisely, the lack thereof."
Seven months later, the lack of inflation is still arguably the big story.
"Inflation continues to surprise to the downside," said St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Monday.
Low inflation seems to be a pretty good reason for the Federal Reserve to keep its foot on the monetary stimulus gas pedal.
However, low inflation isn't strictly a U.S. phenomenon.
All around the world, inflation has been much more benign than forecasted by economists.
Bloomberg LP Chief Economist Michael McDonough tweeted this chart of how expectations for inflation have come down everywhere (excluding the Middle East.)
cotd inflation
@M_McDonough