Excel Currencies Blog

Sticky UK inflation figures cause concern for the BoE..

You would have read or heard from the MSM this morning that UK inflation is finally back into single figures, after (scarily) nearly 1-year above 10%. But that's as far as the good news goes for consumers. 8.2% was the consensus, however 8.7% was the result and so actually it was a big miss and rather nowhere near where economists had hoped to see inflation.

Yesterday, BoE Governor Bailey said in his speech that 'inflation had turned the corner'. The readjustment from 10.1% last month to 8.7% this morning, was largely due to energy costs and so was already expected to come down. Food inflation barely moved from its red-hot 20% level and the most important figure, core inflation, actually jumped to a 30-year high. A laughable comment then by Bailey who now has no choice but to keep raising interest rates in the UK.

The Pound gained 0.5% after the release across the board (this has now been lost again) as traders upgrade their bets on where interest rates in the UK are headed. A 4% prediction peak quickly turned into 5% at the beginning of the year and now it's looking like 5.5% for the summer. Good news for £ sellers, bad news for UK consumers..