UK inflation expected to have risen in August as cost of living squeeze tightens – business live

From 18m ago Introduction: It's UK inflation day Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. We’re about to learn whether the UK’s cost of living squeeze tightened last month. Official linflation data due at 7am BST is expected to show the headline rate of UK inflation rose in August, further above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

Economists forecast the Consumer Prices Index will have risen by around 3.1% last month, up from 2.9% in the 12 months to July. Higher fuel costs, due to the jump in the oil price since the Iran war began, are expected to have pushed up the cost of living again. Petrol and diesel prices are now at their highest level since the conflict began, with a visit to the pumps now the most expensive since 2022.

A jump in inflation could put more pressure on UK government borrowing costs, which yesterday hit the highest level since 2007 as the bond market sell-off continued. Britain isn’t alone here, though – yesterday, the average 10-year bond yield for the Group of Seven largest economies hit its ⁠highest level since mid-2008. The UK also isn’t alone in having an inflation problem.

Last week, US inflation was clocked at 3.4%, which is likely to encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates tonight. The agenda 7am BST: UK inflation report for August 9.30am BST: UK housing prices and rents report 1.30pm BST: US retail sales report 7pm BST:Fed decision 7pm Fed presser 7.30pm Key events 18m ago Introduction: It's UK inflation day Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, has predicted UK inflation will rise in August to just over 3%. Raja told clients last week: double quotation mark After broadly matching expectations in July, we see price momentum pushing up again in August.

Some goods inflation, food inflation and a chunky rise in energy prices will likely see inflation take another small step higher to round up the summer. We’ll find out in 10 minutes if he’s right! Experts at Pantheon Macroeconomics have suggested that so-called “AI-flation” could also be a factor pushing up UK prices.

Rob Wood, their UK economist, said Pantheon believe higher electronics prices, linked to chip shortages amid the AI boom, could add 0.2 percentage points to inflation. Introduction: It's UK inflation day Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. We’re about to learn whether the UK’s cost of living squeeze tightened last month.

Official linflation data due at 7am BST is expected to show the headline rate of UK inflation rose in August, further above the Bank of England’s 2% target. Economists forecast the Consumer Prices Index will have risen by around 3.1% last month, up from 2.9% in the 12 months to July. Higher fuel costs, due to the jump in the oil price since the Iran war began, are expected to have pushed up the cost of living again.

Petrol and diesel prices are now at their highest level since the conflict began, with a visit to the pumps now the most expensive since 2022. A jump in inflation could put more pressure on UK government borrowing costs, which yesterday hit the highest level since 2007 as the bond market sell-off continued. Britain isn’t alone here, though – yesterday, the average 10-year bond yield for the Group of Seven largest economies hit its ⁠highest level since mid-2008.

The UK also isn’t alone in having an inflation problem. Last week, US inflation was clocked at 3.4%, which is likely to encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates tonight. The agenda 7am BST: UK inflation report for August 9.30am BST: UK housing prices and rents report 1.30pm BST: US retail sales report 7pm BST:Fed decision 7pm Fed presser 7.30pm

Source: The Guardian