Good morning.
We start the day with another set of eye-watering inflation figures highlighting the escalating cost-of-living crisis.
The consumer price index rose to 10.1pc in July – up from 9.4pc the previous month and the highest in four decades, according to the ONS.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, hit 6.2pc. The retail price, which is used for pricing some public services including train fares, rose to 12.3pc.
The numbers highlight the strain on British families, with inflation forecast to surge above 13pc later in the year after another jump in energy bills.
The Bank of England has also warned that the UK will be plunged into a deep recession, with households facing the biggest fall in living standards on record.
5 things to start your day
1) Hundreds of thousands of UK households ditch Amazon Prime Cost of living crisis hits streaming companies hard, according to Ofcom report
2) Chaos in corporate Britain as wages crash despite record job vacancies Companies consider one-off bonuses in fight for talent as inflation eclipses pay rises
3) World’s biggest airline orders 30 ‘son of Concorde’ supersonic jets Boom planes are predicted to fly from London to New York in three and a half hours by 2030
4) Aldi to overtake Morrisons as UK’s fourth largest supermarket Cost of living crisis forces shoppers to switch grocery shops
5) Russian gas exports slump by a third in blow to Putin Gazprom could be forced to close gas fields as it struggles to divert supplies to China
What happened overnight
Tokyo stocks opened higher this morning, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index up 0.4pc in early trade and the broader Topix index climbing 0.5pc.
Hong Kong shares started with healthy gains following a positive lead from Wall Street. The Hang Seng Index added 0.8pc.
While the Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.1pc and the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange also rose 0.1pc.
Coming up today
- Corporate: Balfour Beatty, Essentra, Persimmon (interims)
- Economics: Inflation (UK), central bank decision (New Zealand), retail sales, Fed minutes (US)
