Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 Live: Shock 10.1% inflation, but ‘detail suggests even less rosy picture’; shares close down 0.1%
Inflation’s run above 10% rolled into a seventh month today after food prices left the annual rate at a bigger-than-expected 10.1%.
The shock figure from the Office for National Statistics increases the chances that the Bank of England policymakers will hike interest rates by another 0.25% next month.
Elsewhere, delivery business Just Eat and estate agent Winkworth are among those posting results.
FTSE 100 Live Wednesday
Inflation at 10.1% fuels rate rise speculation
Food prices blamed for stubborn inflation rate
Just Eat Takeaway reports slide in orders
FTSE closes down 0.1%
Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:48 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE closed at 7898.77, down only 0.1% despite the shock of continued double-digit inflation increasing rate rise fears.
While the FTSE quickly fell to 7872 this morning, it recovered as the day went on, to finish ahead of Monday’s close, if still below yesterday’s.
British American Tobacco, which held its AGM today, was the biggest riser, while Ocado was the biggest faller.
GSK workers to strike after rejecting pay offer at pharmaceutical giant
Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:13 , Daniel O'Boyle
Hundreds of workers at pharmaceutical giant GSK will stage a series of walkouts in May in a dispute over pay.
Unite said 750 of its members have voted for strike action after rejecting a 6% pay offer and a one-off lump sum of £1,300, describing it as “significantly below” inflation.
Double-digit inflation is an increasingly UK-specific phenomenon
Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:33 , Jonathan Prynn
Historically, bad things happen when bread prices soar.
Over the year to March the price of a loaf in the UK went up by 18.9%, according to the latest data from the ONS. While nobody is expecting bread riots on Britain’s High Streets the social impact of food inflation running at almost 20% simply cannot be ignored.
Alarmingly, double-digit inflation is increasingly a UK-specific phenomenon. Britain is now seriously out of kilter with the rest of the developed world — excepting Turkey and Argentina — on the inflation front with a rate twice that of the USA.
Dividend forecasts fall
Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:07 , Daniel O'Boyle
Expected FTSE dividend payouts for 2023 have fallen to £84.8 billion, due to fears of economic uncertainty in the year ahead.
AJ Bell downgraded the forecast for 2023 from £85.8 billion in its latest Dividend Dashboard report, which measures buybacks as well as dividends.
HSBC is expected to be the single largest dividend payer in 2023, ahead of Shell and British American Tobacco.
US shares fall further
Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:00 , Daniel O'Boyle
US shares are down further this morning, with Netflix and Tesla among the big fallers.
The S&P 500 is down 0.4% to 4137, while the Dow Jones is also down 0.4%, to 33,849. The Nasdaq composite had a sharper fall, by 0.7% to 12,072, influenced in part by this morning’s UK inflation figures.
Tesco plans appeal after Lidl scores victory in logo fight
Wednesday 19 April 2023 14:22 , Daniel O'Boyle
Tesco has said it intends to appeal after Lidl scored a victory in a High Court fight over the use of a yellow circle logo.
A judge said on Wednesday that she had found for the German discount supermarket on claims of trademark infringement, passing off and copyright infringement.
Mrs Justice Joanna Smith oversaw a hearing at the High Court in London earlier this year.
Only 8% of top London-listed firms have LGBTQ+-inclusive board policies
Wednesday 19 April 2023 14:05 , Daniel O'Boyle
Only 29 of the 350 companies on London’s two major stock-market indices have policies to increase the number of LGBTQ+ people on their boards, according to a new report.
The OutQuorum report, which has examined LGBTQ+-inclusive board diversity policies for US companies since 2015, today launched the first report to also include London-listed businesses.
US shares set to fall again
Wednesday 19 April 2023 13:56 , Daniel O'Boyle
US stocks are set to slip further after yesterday’s declines on Wall Street, according to futures markets, amid underwhelming earnings from top firms and the UK’s higher-than-expected inflation.
Dow Jones futures are down 0.4%, while S&P 500 futures are down 0.7% and Nasdaq index futures - representing the rate-sensitive tech sector - are down 0.9%.
Among the big premarket fallers are morgan Stanley, after reporting mixed financial results, and Tesla, after it cut prices yet again.
What is inflation and how is it calculated?
Wednesday 19 April 2023 13:10 , Daniel O'Boyle
New figures show that inflation stayed stuck in double figures in March, pushed up by food prices, crushing hopes of an early end to the cost of living crisis.
But what is inflation and how is it calculated? Here’s what you need to know.
London records house prices dip, data for February shows
Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:26 , Joanna Hodgson
Average London house prices dipped 1.1% in February from a month earlier, new figures show, as the impact of the disastrous mini-Budget continued to be felt in the capital’s residential market.
Land Registry data reveals London was the English region with the lowest annual growth, 2.9%, with a price of £532,212.
Estate agents and housebuilders experienced a sharp downturn at the end of 2022, with higher mortgage bills and concerns about the economic outlook hitting demand.
Rental growth at Primary Health Properties
Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:10 , Joanna Bourke
GP surgeries landlord Primary Health Properties has updated on rental growth and cheered a good start to the year.
The firm, who portfolio comprises surgeries and health centres, said in the first quarter to March 31 it generated an additional £1.3 million, or 0.9%, of extra rental income on a like-for-like basis from its rent review and asset management activities.
The FTSE 250 company added that over the course of 2023 it anticipates rent reviews will generate around £4 million of extra income driven by the impact of inflation on both indexed-linked and open market value reviews.
Chief executive Harry Hyman said: “There is a real need for modern, integrated local primary healthcare facilities and treating more people in primary care would not only be more convenient for the patient but relieve the secondary care system of significant workload and could be done at a greatly reduced cost to the taxpayer. PHP is ready to play its part in modernising real estate infrastructure.”
‘The devil is in the details’ despite disappointing headline inflation reading
Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:05 , Daniel O'Boyle
Jeremy Batstone-Carr, European Strategist at Raymond James Investment Services, warned that - while headline inflation still above 10% was bad news - the statistics only appear worse upon closer inspection.
“With annualised headline inflation clocking in at 10.1%, we may not yet be seeing the light at the end of the inflationary tunnel which has spurred the UK’s worst cost-of-living crisis in decades,” he said. “While inflation remains higher than had been hoped, it is at least a welcome fall after last month’s unexpected increase.
“However, the devil is in the detail which suggests an even less rosy picture. A large part of the decline is due to the March 2022 fuel price spike of 9.9% dropping out of the annualised calculation, meaning that it no longer counts towards the inflation figure.
“A similar phenomenon is expected for April’s inflation figures, as the Ofgem price cap increase of 54% in April 2022 will also drop out of the calculations. While the headline fall is certainly a move in the right direction, it is driven by these previous highs falling out of the formula rather than a significant drop in prices over the last month. “
'Obvious’ risk of inflation spiral
Wednesday 19 April 2023 11:50 , Daniel O'Boyle
Charles Hepworth, investment director at GAM Investments, warned that - with inflation still sky-high, the risks of an inflation spiral were “obvious”.
“The dangers of additional wage price spirals feeding off and perpetuating a demand-led inflation spiral are obvious,” he said.
“At these levels, another quarter point hike is warranted at next month’s MPC meeting and possibly further additional hikes further out. The Bank needs to take back control, because at the moment it is falling woefully short.”
City predicts 5% interest rates by August after double-digit inflation shock
Wednesday 19 April 2023 11:39 , Jonathan Prynn
City traders were today betting that interest rates will have to rise at least twice more and may even need to hit 5% to bring rampant inflation back under control.
Today’s disappointingly small drop in the official rate of inflation — the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — to 10.1% in March sent economists scrambling to revise their forecasts for the rest of the year.
City experts react to more double-digit inflation: Bank of England should ‘get on with its core job'
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:51 , Michael Hunter
After inflation stayed stuck in double digits, City experts are redrawing their expectations for the pace of price rises and the implications for interest rate hikes from the Bank of England, which are seem “almost certain” to hit 5% next month.
Hopes that the pace of price rises in March would ease under 10% were dashed again today -- staying up there for the seventh consecutive month at 10.1% -- largely due to soaring food prices, which rose at their fastest pace in 45 years.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets called for the Bank of England to “worry less about wages and get on with its core job of controlling inflation,” adding: “It strains credibility that there remains a minority on theMonetary Policy Committee who believe that rates have risen far enough, and the next move is likely to be a rate cut ... The central bank has failed in its primary function of getting on top of inflation.”
Marcus Brookes, chief investment officer at Quilter Investors said inflation was persisting at “eye-watering levels” and predicted that the BoE’s attention would turn to “core inflation”, adding: “This measure failed to shift in March and this will be a real concern to the BoE. Should that fail to fall meaningfully in the next couple of months, then more aggressive monetary policy from the BoE may be required yet again”.
David Bharier, head of research at the British Chambers of Commerceâ¯said inflation was still “far and away the top concern” for small and medium-sized UK businesses. “This has been driven by three years of global lockdowns, supply chain crises, energy shocks, and new trade barriers with the EU. Small businesses, particularly those in the retail and hospitality sector, have been the least able to absorb cost rises.”
William Marsters, senior UK sales trader at the Saxo investment platform called the chances of a quarter-point rate hike in May “now almost certain,” with today’s numbers “especuially disappointing” for Prime Minister Rishi Sunk, who has pledged to halve inflation in 2023.
“With most other major economies making progress in the inflation fight, the UK government will be disappointed, to say the least,” he said.
Sweet rise in share price at Cake Box
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:41 , Joanna Bourke
Enfield-headquartered bakery chain Cake Box today said despite a flurry of headwinds it is on track to achieve annual sales growth.
The AIM-listed firm known for its fresh cream cakes expects to report that revenue in the 12 months to March will come in around 5% ahead of the £33 million achieved a year earlier.
Chief executive Sukh Chamdal said: “Just as during the pandemic, we have faced an unprecedented set of circumstances this year, with the war in Ukraine causing a rise in energy and raw material prices and a cost of living crisis impacting consumer confidence. The business showed resilience during a difficult first half and, encouragingly, we have seen sales recover in the second half, with raw material prices stabilising.”
Shares in the company gained 7p, or 5.93%, to 125p.
FTSE 100 falls back, Pendragon surges 9% after strong update
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:24 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index has taken a step back after an eight session winning streak for the London market.
The top flight is down 0.4% or 34.74 points to 7874.70, tracking the lacklustre showing for US shares after banking giant Goldman Sachs came in short of revenue expectations.
A mixed update by Netflix after last night’s closing bell, including a miss on subscriber numbers, also clouded an otherwise robust start to the US earnings season.
The mood in London wasn’t helped by pressure on rate-sensitive property and utility stocks on expectations for tighter monetary policy. British Land and Piccadilly Lights owner Land Securities both fell 2%, while United Utilities dropped 12.5p to 1062p.
The UK uncertainty had a bigger impact on the FTSE 250 index, which declined 0.8% or 151.38 points to 19,144.94 despite some pockets of cheer.
Redde Northgate, the vehicle fleet manager, led the way with a rise of 7% or 26p to 390.5p after it reported a performance ahead of expectations for the year to 30 April.
National Express shares were not far behind, improving 7.6p to 122.9p as the transport giant revealed a 25% rise in first quarter revenues to £774 million. The company, whose operations span North America and Spain as well as UK coach and bus services, also announced a “wide-ranging” productivity improvement and cost reduction programme.
Elsewhere, demand for easyJet shares faded despite analysts at Liberum and Deutsche Bank highlighting new target prices of 650p and 610p respectively on the back of yesterday’s strong update. Shares drifted a penny to 518.2p.
In the FTSE All-Share, car retailer Pendragon rallied 9% or 1.6p to 18.8p after reporting that underlying profits rose 23% to £23 million in a stronger-than-expected start to the year.
The company, which operates 160 sites under the Evans Halshaw, Stratstone and CarStore brands, said the supply of new vehicles had improved but that the position for used vehicles remains tight.
One of the best performances on AIM came from Hummingbird Resources after it reported a “positive quarter” of production at its flagship mine in Mali alongside a 9% rise in average gold price to $1878 an ounce.
The shares lifted 1.25p to 13.1p and are up 80% this year ahead of first production at its Kouroussa mine in Guinea.
Hospitality sector warns it can’t keep shielding customers from full inflation impact
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:13 , Daniel O'Boyle
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said the restaurant and pub sector cannot keep shielding customers from the full impact of prices rises much longer after today’s shock inflation reading.
She said that pubs had made an effort to avoid passing on the full brunt of price hikes, but - with food price inflation the highest since 1977 - that tactic is not sustainable in the long term.
“We saw just last week that food service price inflation remains over 20% and new research shows that the price pubs paid for food rose three times quicker than their menu prices,” she said.
“Hospitality businesses are doing all they can to shield consumers from price rises, which means they’ve absorbed as much cost as they can, but that is becoming unsustainable for many.”
Heathrow launches appeal against decision it must cut charges
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:09 , Daniel O'Boyle
Heathrow Airport has launched an appeal against a decision that it must reduce charges for airlines.
A spokesman accused the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of “undermining” the investment needed in the west London airport.
In February, the CAA said the cap on Heathrow’s average charge per passenger must be reduced from £31.57 for 2023 and last year, to £25.43 over the next three years.
House price growth continues to fall
Wednesday 19 April 2023 09:39 , Daniel O'Boyle
UK house prices were up 5.5% year-on-year in February, down from a 6.5% rise in January.
However, prices kept declining on a month-on-month basis, as the trend that started from the chaos of last year’s mini-Budget continued.
Prices in London rose by 2.9%, the slowest rate in the UK.
The average UK house price was £288,000, while in London the average price was £532,000.
Plus500 sets sights on US as profits double
Wednesday 19 April 2023 09:29 , Daniel O'Boyle
Profits at financial trading app Plus500 doubled in the first three months of the year, as the business sets its sights on the US and Middle East.
Profit was up from $46.7 million to $100.9 million, as trading volume per customer increased rapidly.
The company now plans to roll out its growth plans for the lucrative US futures trading market, as well as the UAE, where it recently received a licence to operate.
“We have a range of extremely exciting strategic growth opportunities ahead of us, particularly in the US futures market, enabling us to accelerate our development as a diversified, global multi-asset fintech group with a highly valuable customer base and market leading capabilities,” CEO David Zruia said.
Just Eat ramps up tech recruitment in London
Wednesday 19 April 2023 09:03 , Simon Hunt
Just Eat Takeaway said it was ramping up its recruitment of tech staff in London despite a mass wave of layoffs earlier in the year.
The firm let go as many as 1700 delivery drivers in March amid a downturn in orders.
CEO Jitse Groen said: “We are net adding employees in the UK, it’s not that our employee force in the UK is shrinking.
“In some areas we are actually adding staff, we are adding a lot of tech staff in London and Bristol and a new call centre in Sunderland.”
Just Eat could not confirm the number of additional tech employees but said there were more than 70 vacancies for roles like engineers and developers.
It comes as Just Eat posted a 14% drop in orders to 228 million in the first three months of 2023, while gross transaction value, a measure of the total size of orders, declined more modestly, down 8% to 6.6 billion euros.
The firm increased its full-year EBITDA guidance from 225 million euros to 275 million euros.
Shares fell 4.9% to 1,366p.
National Express to cut costs after ‘higher-than-expected’ bus driver pay deal
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:45 , Daniel O'Boyle
National Express Group hit its expectations for 2022 despite bus driver strikes, but it will implement £25 million worth of cost-cutting after agreeing to a higher-than-expected pay deal.
It said UK costs were hit by the pay deal with bus drivers, and as a result it will take steps to mitigate those costs. That includes a £25 million cost-cutting scheme, though it said that no front-line roles would be affected.
“I am pleased to report another quarter of progress at National Express with Group revenues in-line with expectations, albeit affected by the bus driver strike in the UK, and recognising that the most significant trading periods for our US School Bus and UK and Spanish coach operations still lie ahead,” CEO Ignacio Garat said.
5% interest rates more likely than not
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:30 , Daniel O'Boyle
The City sees 5% interest rates as more likely than not, after today’s inflation shock.
With inflation remaining above 10%, analysts now see two more rate hikes - bringing us to 4.75% by June - as all but certain.
Beyond that, rates are more up in the air but the City believes there is a nearly three-in-four chance of rates hitting 5% by November. with 5.25% a distinct possibility.
“It more or less guarantees that the Bank of England still has a little ways to go in raising interest rates,” Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury said. “We see another 25bp hike at the May MPC meeting as a foregone conclusion, and we wouldn't be at all surprised to see another couple more hikes beyond next month's meeting.”
FTSE 100 under pressure, upgrades boost easyJet shares
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:29 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index stands 21.63 points lower at 7887.81, which if maintained would be the top flight’s first downward session in nine.
Copper miner Antofagasta led the fallers board, dropping on 3% or 44.5p to 1592.5p following a production update. Other blue-chip stocks down by more than 1% included British Land, silver miner Fresnillo and warehousing firm Segro.
The FTSE 250 index fell 0.5% or 99.55 points to 19,196.77, despite updates from National Express, van rental business Redde Northgate and oil services firm Hunting sending their shares higher by more than 4%.
The momentum for easyJet continued following yesterday’s trading update, with shares up another 9.4p to 528.6p after analysts at Liberum and Deutsche Bank highlighted new target prices of 650p and 610p respectively.
“The UK has an inflation problem that is worse than Europe and the US.”
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:09 , Daniel O'Boyle
Ed Monk, associate airector for personal investing at Fidelity International, noted that the UK is lagging well behind the US and Eurozone in bringing prices back under control.
"The strain on households shows little sign of easing with yet another reading of headline inflation above 10%,” he said. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go.
“Price rises were expected to be much less painful by this point of the year as the steep rises of early 2022 fell out of annual comparisons, but this reading puts inflation back to its level from January. Core inflation also remains stuck.
“It’s now clear the UK has an inflation problem that is worse and more persistent than in Europe and the US.”
Sterling higher amid stubborn inflation rate
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:07 , Graeme Evans
The Bank of England interest rate stands at 4.25% but markets now look to be pricing in a peak closer to 5% after today’s inflation print.
The pound rose 0.3% to $1.246 in reaction to the figures, leaving the exchange rate close to the 10-month high above $1.25 set last week.
Today’s consumer prices index reading represents the seventh month in a row that the annual rate of inflation has topped 10% and compares with forecasts for a fall to 9.8%.
Last April’s huge energy price rise drops out of headline inflation rate in next month’s reading, but hopes of a faster decline back to the Bank of England 2% target are fading.
Writing on Twitter this morning, Panmure Gordon chief economist Simon French said: “Some UK inflation forecasts in recent weeks foresaw 2% by year end and outright deflation into 2024.
“Hard to see those materialising from today’s data. We continue to think delayed pass through, labour supply shortages will offset encouraging data in energy markets and lead to inflation around 3%-4% by year end.”
ProCook sales lose steam and fall 9.7%
Wednesday 19 April 2023 08:04 , Joanna Bourke
ProCook expects trading conditions to remain challenging and unpredictable, the kitchenware brand said as it revealed a 9.7% drop in fourth quarter revenue.
The company, which sells products such as saucepans and baking trays, said revenue in the final quarter to April 2 was down 9.7% at £12.6 million, and 9.4% lower on a comparable basis.
The online business led the decline, with the store arm broadly flat, and the firm said the performance reflects “ongoing uncertainty in the consumer backdrop”.
Full-year sales of £63.2 million are in the middle of ProCook’s expected range and underlying pre-tax profits will be approximately break even.
Chief executive Daniel O’Neill said: “The last year has been very difficult for consumers as real disposable incomes have fallen, which is reflected in our softer sales performance against our significant growth and market outperformance last year.”
He added: “While we expect trading conditions to remain challenging and unpredictable, we continue to grow our customer base by attracting new customers to the brand and remain confident in our value-for-money, specialist offer. Certain inflationary cost pressures, including wages, remain high, however we are seeing some easing in other areas, and we expect to realise the benefits of our recent actions to reduce operating costs in the current financial year and beyond.”
Heineken revenue up despite lower volume
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:51 , Daniel O'Boyle
There were signs of inflation’s impact in Heineken’s results today, as revenue rose in the UK and globally despite less beer being sold.
The brewing giant - which makes Amstel, Desperados, Tiger and Birra Moretti as well as Heineken - said its revenue rise in the UK was due to “pricing and premiumisation”, as sales volumes dipped.
In the UK, revenue was up by around 5%, despite volume being down by close to 10%.
Liontrust Asset Management reports outflows of £4.8 billion in ‘challenging’ year
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:46 , Michael Hunter
Outflows of clients’ cash at Liontrust Asset Management reached £4.8 billion in its last financial year, in the latest sign of the pressure on money managers in the City and beyond from rising interest rates.
As central banks lift borrowing costs, the knock-on effects improve returns from less risky venues for money, such as savings accounts, which often also have fewer restrictions on access to cash. And there were signs that the trend could be speeding up. The FTSE 250 company also said today that customers pulled £2 billion out in the quarter to the end of March.
Assets under management and advice at Liontrust fell 3.6% to £31.4 billion at the end of March.
But the company also said it expected revenue and profit to beat market expectations at “not less than £86 million” helped by “stronger than expected” revenue from fees of at least £17 million.
John Ions, chief executive, said: “It has been a challenging year for Liontrust in terms of net outflows and mixed performance for our funds. But this has to be set against a backdrop of the industry in aggregate suffering UK retail net outflows in 10 out of the 12 months last year, according to the Investment Association.”
Food inflation continues to soar
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:19 , Simon Hunt
Food inflation remained stubbornly high in figures released by the ONS this morning. Here’s a breakdown of food inflation by type.
US earnings mixed, FTSE 100 seen lower
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:18 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is expected to open slightly lower as investors digest yesterday’s mixed session for US earnings.
The major Wall Street indices closed flat last night, but with shares in Goldman Sachs down 2% after the banking giant missed revenue expectations.
There was a more favourable reception for results from Bank of America, while Netflix shares held firm in dealings after it posted figures following the closing bell.
Revenues rose 8% in line with Netflix’s guidance to $8.2 billion (£6.6 billion) but the streaming giant’s addition of 1.75 million subscribers in the quarter was below Wall Street forecasts. Operating profit was a little better than expected at $1.7 billion (£1.4 billion).
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates said; “Netflix’s first quarter has failed to set the market alight, in what is the first of big tech to go in the earnings quarter that’s expected to be the worst since the pandemic started.
“Fundamental metrics show the business is in reasonable shape, but investors need a little more than that to shake off remaining concerns about a downturn lurking in the shadows.”
The FTSE 100 index added 0.4% yesterday for its eighth consecutive session in positive territory, aided by a strong performance for mining stocks after China’s Q1 GDP figure of 4.5% beat expectations.
IG Index futures point to a fall of around nine points to 7900 when London trading resumes this morning.
Just Eat Takeaway ups earnings guidance despite slide in orders
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:05 , Simon Hunt
Just Eat Takeaway has increased its full-year EBITDA guidance from 225 million euros to 275 million euros despite a significant drop in orders.
Orders with the firm fell 14% to 228 million in the first three mounths of 2023, while orders in Southern Europe saw an even sharper drop, down 18% to 25 million.
Gross transaction value, a measure of the total size of orders, declined more modestly, down 8% to 6.6 billion euros.
CEO Jitse Groen said: “Q1 2023 continued to be affected by a difficult pandemic comparison. The Company continues to make good progress on Delivery-led operational improvements and is now ahead of plan.”
UK inflation still above 10%
Wednesday 19 April 2023 07:03 , Daniel O'Boyle
The Consumer Price Index again came in as a shock high, at 10.1% in March.
A drop into single-digits was widely expected, but a 19.2% rise in food prices kept it above 10%.
However, it wasn’t just food keeping price rises high, as core inflation rose, to 5.7%.
“Inflation eased slightly in March, but remains at a high level,” ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said. “The main drivers of the decline were motor fuel prices and heating oil costs, both of which fell after sharp rises at the same time last year. Clothing, furniture and household goods prices increased, but more slowly than a year ago.
“However, these were partially offset by the cost of food, which is still climbing steeply, with bread and cereal price inflation at a record high. The overall costs facing business have been largely stable since last summer, although prices remain high.”
Recap: Yesterday’s top stories
Wednesday 19 April 2023 06:51 , Simon Hunt
Good morning. Here’s a summary of our top stories from yesterday.
Easyjet said it had seen a surge in summer bookings despite a rise in ticket prices, offering hope to the beleaguered airline industry.
March insolvencies jumped to its highest level in years, exceeding pandemic levels.
Pre-tax losses at THG widened to over half a billion pounds as the firm said it invested to keep customers on board amid rocketing inflation.
