The pound lost ground for a second day in a row against the euro after the latest inflation data was published in the UK.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 1.9% in January, the first time that the CPI measure of inflation has been below the Bank of England’s target rate of 2% since November 2009 and the fifth consecutive time in which it had undershot analysts expectations.
Analysts now believe that there is a good chance that CPI inflation will fall to as low as 1% by the end of 2014 and remain subdued thereafter.
In other analysis, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the average price of a home in the UK reached £250,000 for the first time in 2013 with house prices increasing by 5.5% in the year to December 2013, up from a 5.4% increase in November.
The £250,000 mark is significant as it pushes more buyers into the 3% stamp duty bracket which increases costs for buyers but generates additional tax revenue for the UK Treasury. In its own survey, property website Rightmove recently said in its own survey that an average UK house now costs £251,964 with prices up 6% in the year to February 2014.
The ONS also reported the regional split in house price increases with UK house prices up by 5.7% in England, 4.8% in Wales, 0.5% in Scotland and 4.8% in Northern Ireland.
In a separate move ahead of the Scottish independence vote in September, the Government has granted Scotland permission to issue its own bonds but with a warning that it is “unlikely to be a cost effective form of borrowing”. The Treasury has stated that Scotland will be able to issue up to £2.2 billion on the international bond markets for capital investment projects but the bonds will not be guaranteed by the UK Government
The US dollar fell yesterday after the latest data from the NAHB’s US home builder sentiment index showed a big drop to a reading of just 46 in February, down from a reading of 56 in January. The ‘softness’ of the data is being put down to the unusually severe weather conditions across much of the nation along with continued concerns over the cost and availability of suitable labour by analysts at the NAHB.
Today sees the publication of the latest UK employment and average earnings data together with the release of the minutes from the last Bank of England and US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meetings from the beginning of the month.
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