UK Inflation falls to 10.1%

The annual rate of consumer price inflation fell to a five-month low today, 0.2% below consensus estimates. This made three consecutive months of decreases with the previous month seeing 10.5% headline rates. Despite the positive trend, the UK still remains close to 40-year inflation highs driven largely by soaring housing, bills and food which all hit low income households particularly hard. The 0.4% monthly drop was due to a continued fall in fuel prices as well as in some of the service focused sectors such as restaurants and takeaways. Compared to global peers, the UK is still seeing particularly elevated levels of inflation with the US reporting a 6.4% figure on the same day. The UK's FTSE 100 Share Index responded to the better than forecast data by reaching an all-time high, briefly passing 8000 points, buoyed by hopes there are no further interest rate hikes to be priced into markets.