{"id":18232,"date":"2011-01-18T07:24:34","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T12:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=18232"},"modified":"2011-01-18T07:24:34","modified_gmt":"2011-01-18T12:24:34","slug":"uk-inflation-rises-to-3-7-in-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/01\/18\/uk-inflation-rises-to-3-7-in-december\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Inflation Rises To 3.7% In December"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Brief<\/strong><\/p>\n

UK inflation rose to 3.7% in December according to new CPI figures.<\/p>\n

UK consumer confidence index also leaped to 53 in December according to the latest Nationwide survey.<\/p>\n

The threat of euro zone nations seeking ECB bailouts has lessened this morning.<\/p>\n

The German economy continues at full throttle, according to a new ZEW survey.<\/p>\n

In Depth<\/strong><\/p>\n

UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good morning! Inflation in the UK rose to 3.7% in December according to new CPI (Consumer Price Index) figures released today. The CPI measures the movement in prices month-to-month based on essential purchases to consumers. The figure for December rose 0.4% from 3.3% on the back of rising food production prices and petrol prices.<\/p>\n

This release has boosted the GBPEUR exchange rate this morning. This is because higher inflation increases the likelihood that the Bank of England will raise interest rates, and higher interest rates are good for investments in sterling. In addition, the increase in VAT to 20% is likely to push inflation even higher next month.<\/p>\n

Furthermore this morning, British consumer confidence index rose to 53 (compared to 45 in November) according to the newly released Nationwide survey. This indicates that consumers are more upbeat both about their work prospects and the wider economy, and also bodes well for sterling.<\/p>\n

EU<\/strong><\/p>\n

EU finance ministers continue to discuss the possibility of expanding the ECB (European Central Bank) bailout fund this morning. Tensions surrounding this issue have eased for the moment: indebted nations including Spain and Portugal held successful bond auctions last week. This indicates that market confidence in these nations to pay back their debts has risen.<\/p>\n

However the likelihood that the euro zone members will boost the rescue fund remains high. Commentators are indicating that nothing will be announced in the current talks: more likely an announcement will be made in February, once German concerns about shouldering the debt have been settled.<\/p>\n

In addition this morning, confidence in the German economy has rocketed to 15.4 according to the newly released ZEW survey. The ZEW survey measures the confidence of investors in their German shares: a higher rating indicates they are confident of a higher return. This is similarly good news for the euro.<\/p>\n

US<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a public holiday in the US on Monday, meaning no economic data was released. Today is similarly quiet, though expectations remain high about Chinese Premier Hu Jintao\u2019s upcoming meeting with President Obama in Washington. That commences tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Coming Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bank of Canada releases its interest rate decision today. This could strongly affect the value of the Canadian dollar.<\/p>\n

By Peter Lavelle with specialist money transfer service<\/a> Pure FX.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Brief UK inflation rose to 3.7% in December according to new CPI figures. UK consumer confidence index also leaped to 53 in December according to the latest Nationwide survey. The threat of euro zone nations seeking ECB bailouts has lessened this morning. The German economy continues at full throttle, according to a new ZEW … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “UK Inflation Rises To 3.7% In December”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}