How strong is the correlation between the inflation rate and 30-year treasury yields? The following data published by Fuji Securities are given as pairs of inflation rates and treasury yields for selected years over a 35-year period.
| Inflation rate (%) |
30-year treasury yield (%) |
| 1.57 |
3.05 |
| 2.23 |
3.93 |
| 2.17 |
4.68 |
| 4.53 |
6.57 |
| 7.25 |
8.27 |
| 9.25 |
12.01 |
| 5.00 |
10.27 |
| 4.62 |
8.45 |
Compute the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to determine the strength of the correlation between these two variables. Comment on the strength and direction of the correlation.