Consumer Prices in the U.K. increased by 0.9 percent in February according to a report released today by National Statistics. The Consumer Price Index advanced more than expected and follows a 0.7 percent consumer price decrease in January. On an annual basis, the U.K. cpi has increased by 3.2 
percent over the February 2008 level following the annual increase of 3.0 percent in January. Market forecasts were expecting monthly consumer prices to increase by 0.3 percent and the annual gain to register 2.6 percent for the month.
Core consumer prices, excluding food and energy prices, increased by 1.6 percent on an annual basis in February following an annual increase of 1.3 percent in January. Market forecasts were predicting core inflation to register an annual increase of 1.3 percent for the month.
Contributing to the increased consumer prices were increases in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices. Other price increases contributing to the higher cpi were recreation & culture, household goods and transportation costs which were boosted by an increase in the price of gasoline.
Forex – British Pound and US Dollar gain in forex trading today.
Today’s forex trading action has seen the British pound stronger today against most of its currency rivals. The pound has made gains versus the euro, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar.
The euro dropped today versus the pound as the EUR/GBP trades at 0.9164 at 5:27pm EST after opening the day at 0.9310 at 00:00 GMT according to currency data by Oanda. The pound has increased against the U.S. dollar as the GBP/USD trades at 1.4679 after its open at the 1.4663 exchange rate. The pound has increased slightly versus the Japanese yen today at 143.59 yen per pound after its 143.33 yen per pound open.
The pound has advanced against its Swiss rival as the GBP/CHF has gone from its 1.6479 open to trading at 1.6619 later today while the pound has also gained against the Canadian dollar as the GBP/CAD trades at 1.8057 after opening the day at 1.7911.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar also had a good day in forex trading as the American currency put a stop to its recent slide against many of the major currencies. The dollar advanced today versus the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc while falling to the British pound and trading virtually unchanged against the Japanese yen.
News out of the U.S. today focused on the testimony of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner before Congressional lawmakers in Washington. The Congressional testimony centered on the A.I.G. issue and the circumstances of the government bailout.
Perhaps the most notable outcome of the meeting was the seeking of new powers by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department that would grant them new authority to take over non-bank financial companies in case of a threat to the financial system. These new broad powers would have to be granted by Congress and could be used in the future for the problems that arose with companies such as A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers.
On tap for tomorrow is the US Durable Goods release that is expected to fall by 2.5 percent in February and also the New Home Sales data that is expected to show a drop by 2.8 percent in February.
EUR/GBP Chart – The Euro falling against the British Pound in Forex Trading today.
