The UK’s inflation rate has hit its highest rate since September 2013. Higher air fares are the main reason which are being blamed on the later date of Easter this year. Clothing prices as well as vehicle excise duty and electricity were also more expensive.
The real concern is wage growth, which at 2.3% has now been over taken by inflation – coming in at 2.7%. This is well above the Bank of England's 2% target. The Bank of England warned last week that this year would be "a more challenging time for British households" with inflation rising and real wages falling and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Meanwhile the FTSE 100 hits another all-time high with oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell climbing as crude remains strong.
Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile operator, posted a 6.1-billion-euro loss for the 12 months ending in March, due to its challenged Indian unit but shares gained value after it also issued am optimistic earnings outlook and a jump in free cash flow for the current year.
And budget airline Easyjet posted a £236m loss for the six months to the end of March compared to £18m in the same period last year. Much of this decline was put down to the slump in the value of the pound after the Brexit vote.
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--- Written by Katie Pilbeam, DailyFX
